I find I have a limited attention span when it comes to being talked to. That probably accounts for why I do not like being read to or poetry recitations. It has nothing to do with the content.

I have come to this realization as a result of watching Legal AF, which features lawyers talking about current issues in the national arena. Although I am totally interested, I find I have to turn away after listening for a while. It is not the presenters voices that turn me off. My listening capacity just runs out. I simply do not like being talked at. That was the problem with graduate school. With my mother, I thought it was the sound of her voice. Perhaps it was just her incessant talk.

In looking up “listening capacity,” I find listening is defined in terms of comprehension of the content of speech, rather than the quantity of speech, or any other noise, being delivered. Here too the focus is on the ability to influence–the effect on the recipient, rather than the quantity or quality of the sound. Is this another example of ignoring agency in favor of intent and recipient?