When you declare your major as Communication Studies, there should be a little warning box that comes up to warn you about what you’re getting yourself into. Don’t get me wrong. I love my major and I wouldn’t change it, but there are side effects that how have been nice to know.
First off, be prepared to constantly tell people what your major means. Most are going to assume you mean mass communication and start talking about journalism. Communication Studies is exactly what it sounds like. It’s studying the ways we communicate and why we communicate in those ways. It’s the theories of our communication and the research that goes into it. We look at interpersonal communication as well as communication in the professional setting. (And now you know).
The next question I get the most is: ‘How will that be useful to you?’ Be prepared for the askers look of confusion and don’t be surprised if there’s even a hint of condescension in their voice. Obviously, everyone’s answer to that particular question will vary. My response to that is that I want to go into event planning on a convention and conference level, so public speaking and really understanding how to communicate to people will be helpful to me. They should hopefully understand it by then. Or, they’ll just ask you if it means you’ll start talking more.
Next, being a Comm Studies (note: you’ll probably have to tell them that Comm Studies means Communication Studies) major, you’ll turn into a paranoid crazy person. By studying the ways we communicate and the verbal and non-verbal cues we use, I’ve realized that I notice a lot more about people. It’s constantly making me wonder if other people are using certain gestures consciously or if it’s completely incidental.
Eye contact is another thing to pay attention. Does it feel forced? Does it happen often? Who breaks it first? All those things can indicate how whoever you’re talking to feels. Our impression management is a tricky area. We’re constantly making sure we come off a certain way to different people. We come across different to our family than to our friends. We might want to seem one way with one friend and another way with another friend.
Impressions that you make are ones that can be hard to break though. You may want someone to see you differently than you’ve been letting on, but to get them to change that view point of you may prove to be a greater challenge. Or, someone could appear to be a completely different person and you wonder where they came from. Perspectives always have the potential to change, but it might take some work.
Despite how stressful all of that may sound, I love being a Communication Studies major. I love being able to communicate better and understand more about how to do so in an effective manner. And, it can be nice to be able to try and decipher all those tricky communication codes we send each other.
