Talking To Yourself?

Do you talk to yourself? I grew up believing that it is the first sign of insanity but apparently it is not so bad. Only when you have full conversations with yourself, you need to get worried. It may be a sign of schizophrenia.

Normal conversation is defined as verbal exchanges between two or more persons; therefore talking to oneself can hardly be described as conversation though politicians, preachers, parents, teachers, and the likes of them often talk to themselves, believing that those who are being addressed by them are actually listening.

My friends too often talk to themselves when we sit in a noisy place. Being somewhat hard of hearing, I cannot hear a thing when there is noise or music in the background. I learned to watch their facial expressions and I have developed a set of gestures, headshakes, and more facial expressions that I use to return conversation while they are blissfully unaware that they are talking to nobody but themselves.

Then of course, there are those who talk to the TV set. Discounting voice recognition technology to change channels, we all know that neither the TV, nor the person(s) displayed on the screen can hear or respond to you. Yet, you will often find people warning those on the screen of impending dangers, while coaches will sit on their couches in their lounges coaching their teams to victory or defeat.

This does not conform to the definition of normal conversation and must also be seen as talking to oneself. It is just as well those players cannot hear their coaches sitting on their couches; they damn well won’t know who to listen to.

But the clever people say that talking to oneself is not limited to verbal speech. Writing is also talking to yourself if it is not addressed to somebody in particular. Mind you, that sounds familiar. I have seen some blogs and comments doing exactly that; sometimes asking questions only to answer them as well in the next comment.


Well, enjoy the weekend or what is left of it.