The concept of the linear model of communication

Chapter 1 

From the readings, the concept of the linear model of communication stood out most for me. The model shows how communication among humans is like tossing a ball where the sender encodes the message then conveys it to the receiver, who has to decode it to make sense of what is sent to them. This is quite interesting as I often viewed communication as a process of sending messages to other people. I had never thought of biological factors affecting the reception of the message as a form of noise. I only used to consider external factors as noise as I could see how they distract the recipient. With this newfound knowledge, I plan to be more considerate when communicating with others and educating them on the various types of noise that may affect their ability to understand messages. I believe that the linear model of communication is important as it helps facilitate effective communication by bringing to light the various aspects one has to consider when communicating. 

Question 

How can we best self-monitor our communication and ensure we are not too harsh to ourselves? 

Chapter 2 

The next interesting idea that I have learned is that people are often more charitable when judging themselves than when they are judging others. I found this idea quite interesting, especially because I often judge myself more harshly. Whenever I mess up, I am more likely to spend more time analyzing the event and thinking of why I could not have found a better way to react to it. I believe that I have a limited self-serving bias that distorted my view of others. I plan on incorporating this idea in my life by being careful not to judge myself or others too harshly, as this might affect our communication. I believe this idea is instrumental to communication as it helps people to be mindful of the pitfalls to avoid when communicating. 

Question 

How does having supportive communication with others enhance self-esteem?