Interruptions everywhere

I always though of interrupting as a sign of disrespect to the person who is talking or an attempt to dominate, however, according to linguist Deborah Tannen, this is not always the case. It can be a sign of enthusiastic participations in the conversation, or creating connections. Women tend to interrupt more than men, often as a sign of support and encouragement. An imbalance between the two people would be if one person interrupts, or overlaps to show support, while the other takes the floor by expressing their opinions or switching topics.

A few weeks ago in class, we were discussing video games and the concept of virtual money. When it came to explaining the situation, Bob began to let us know how one could buy virtual money in order to improve the health of your video game character. As he did, Cynthia started to explain the situation as well. I first thought it was very rude of her to overlap what Bob was saying, but now I realize that she was just as excited about the gaming world and wanted to express her point of view.