Has Listening Become a Lost Art?

By deriving polling data from social media and quoting trending soundbites from Twitter and Facebook, real voices that may not be trending and of any interest to politicians, lobbyists, activists or business interests are losing ground.

Fake accounts and bots are repeating the narrative across the internet to shape the perception as per need.

Politicians and Pop Celebs have millions of fake followers and bots to derive likes and trend their posts, setting the stage for what is to be paid attention to.

This rule states that only a small section of users (around 1%) in any given platform (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and many others) post any content actively.

9% are occasional contributors, and the rest 90% of them are a silent majority only looking at content that is posted by others.

Most people have gotten used to others not listening to what they want to say, so they have stopped demanding others to listen.

Most of the talk doesn't go beyond the usual jokes and social niceties, as deeply personal talk is now being considered as a burden on others.

It is getting awkward for some to talk face to face, and email or text conversations seem more efficient and lead to better screening.

Sitting with a person face to face, without disturbance and listening to what is being said is now almost a lost art.

Due to an increase in distractions, listening now takes a lot more effort than before.

The ability to listen carefully diminishes if one is not using it often, so it is imperative that we practice this lost skill more.