Week 5; Post 3

I think that the concept of using personalized communication instead of depersonalized communication is important. Personalized communication requires the use of "I" statements. This is assertive communication behavior. Depersonalized communication uses "you" statements. Using this type of communication is considered responsibility avoidance. Instead of using broads term such as: you, others, many people, it is more direct to make an "I" statement. Speaking more directly can help to avoid miscommunication. It may be difficult to own our statements and be direct because it may feel like it will cause the other person to become defensive, but it can be beneficial. Of course we don't want to cause the other person to feel uncomfortable, but it also important to speak our feelings. We should not say things in a way that causes the other person to become defensive because that could cause them to tune us out. But we also don't want to hold our feelings in because that could cause resentful feelings toward the other person. The best thing to do is to be assertive and use "I" statements.