With the advent of technology in the present day, it seems face-to-face communication is becoming a more and more of a difficult process. E-mail and instant messaging has made easier to communicate but unfortunately, has not brought us closer together. This isn't the first time our society has had problems effectively communicating. Since the beginning of time it has been thought men and women have had difficulty communicating especially in their personal relationships. Two authors, Deborah Tannen and John Gray, discuss, the common communication problems between men and women, their causes, and solutions. Their critic's thoughts show other's thoughts about this important topic.
Deborah Tannen has written several best-selling books about language and communication (8). John Gray has also written several books. Men Are from Mars and Women are from Venus, the first of his series, has sold over six million copies worldwide and has been translated into forty different languages (16). Unlike Deborah Tannen, who is a linguistics professor at Georgetown University and started her research in an academic setting, John Gray initiated his career as an assistant to transcendental meditation leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and then became a writer on relationships (17). .
In her article, "Put Down That Paper and Talk to Me!" Deborah Tannen describes some of the communication problems between men and women. She uses the familiar metaphor: a wife is very displeased because she made breakfast for her husband and all he wants to do is read the morning newspaper. She writes about how many women are upset when their significant other does not talk to them at home. And then she discuses how men are discouraged because they have disappointed their partners. Both the men and women of today's society do not understand how they failed or how else they should have behaved (12-13).
John Gray in his writings uses the idea that women use generalizations when they talk and men misguidedly understand women's talk literally.