Fast Talkers

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:08 am

Are teenagers talking faster or am I hearing slower? Both on the phone and in person, many young people seem to run their words together at a speed that is almost incomprehensible. They can't possibly text as fast as they speak, or can they?

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:23 am

Lon;1269027 wrote: Are teenagers talking faster or am I hearing slower? Both on the phone and in person, many young people seem to run their words together at a speed that is almost incomprehensible. They can't possibly text as fast as they speak, or can they?My youngest daughter talks fast and text's fast. I've never seen anyone text as fast as her. We've held contests, nobody comes close.

But yes I agree, many younger people do seem to be talking faster.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:21 am

Ahso!;1269029 wrote: My youngest daughter talks and text's fast. I've never seen anyone text as fast as her. We've held contests, nobody comes close.

But yes I agree, many younger people do seem to be talking faster.

Lon, I work with teens and I can tell you that you are absolutely correct. Today's teens speak at what I estimate to be an average of 600-800 words per minute. That's at least double the old 300 - 400 WPM of the 1970s. (A more laid back generation!)

The reasons for this are all around you, just take a look at the typical Saturday morning cartoons of today. All youth-oriented TV programming from MTV (Where is started in the 1980s) to movies feature fast-cut editing with lots of sequences where a scene is shown less than 2 seconds on the screen. (The old norm was a minimum 5 sec. per scene, since that was the time that the brain took to process that information in yesteryears.)

Thanks to that, the internet, DVDs, steadycam filming, texting, cell phones, and a host of other fast-paced influences, my fellow teachers and myself estimate the average attention-span of a modern teen at about a maximum of about thirty seconds. That means that if you are speaking to a teen, you'd better get your point across fast and without repetition. Drag it out, and you lost them.

The good news is that, although they are speaking at about 600 - 800 wpm (which I do as well now since I work with them so much) you can listen at 1500 wpm!

So, even though they will sound like they are speaking incredibly fast to you, you will still be able to understand them. (Usually...)

Welcome to the 21st Century, Lon.:rolleyes:

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:25 am

South Park - I can't catch a word of that show.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:12 am

Kids today just have so much information available to them. I've been known to talk fast, especially when I have a lot of information to get out. Once I get started, it's hard to shut me up! :wah:

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:52 pm

Saint_;1269043 wrote: Lon, I work with teens and I can tell you that you are absolutely correct. Today's teens speak at what I estimate to be an average of 600-800 words per minute. That's at least double the old 300 - 400 WPM of the 1970s. (A more laid back generation!)

The reasons for this are all around you, just take a look at the typical Saturday morning cartoons of today. All youth-oriented TV programming from MTV (Where is started in the 1980s) to movies feature fast-cut editing with lots of sequences where a scene is shown less than 2 seconds on the screen. (The old norm was a minimum 5 sec. per scene, since that was the time that the brain took to process that information in yesteryears.)

Thanks to that, the internet, DVDs, steadycam filming, texting, cell phones, and a host of other fast-paced influences, my fellow teachers and myself estimate the average attention-span of a modern teen at about a maximum of about thirty seconds. That means that if you are speaking to a teen, you'd better get your point across fast and without repetition. Drag it out, and you lost them.

The good news is that, although they are speaking at about 600 - 800 wpm (which I do as well now since I work with them so much) you can listen at 1500 wpm!

So, even though they will sound like they are speaking incredibly fast to you, you will still be able to understand them. (Usually...)

Welcome to the 21st Century, Lon.:rolleyes:

Thanks for your response-----------what you have said certainly makes sense.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:59 pm

G-man;1269066 wrote: . Once I get started, it's hard to shut me up! :wah:

No!! Never! I can't believe that G-man:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

I thought it was a very Australian thing to run your words into each other. owmuchapiecos causeIeckonit'stoomuch............If you talk quickly it leaves more time for being layed back.

mrsK · Post by **mrsK** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:03 pm

Lon;1269027 wrote: Are teenagers talking faster or am I A slower? Both on the phone and in person, many young people seem to run their words together at a speed that is almost incomprehensible. They can't possibly A as fast as they speak, or can they?

I went & had my ears checked because I thought I was going deaf.:yh_rotfl

No I am not I have great hearing ,it's like you say everything is so fast & jumbled.

Thank Goodness as I was getting a bit worried:-5

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:19 pm

mrsK;1269119 wrote: I went & had my ears checked because I thought I was going deaf.:yh_rotfl

No I am not I have great hearing ,it's like you say everything is so fast & jumbled.

Thank Goodness as I was getting a bit worried:-5Does that happen to you only with kids, MrsK? Or do you notice this occurring more often?

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:34 pm

Ahso!;1269123 wrote: Does that happen to you only with kids, MrsK? Or do you notice this occurring more often?
My youngest is the king of mumble, then gets pissed when we say "What did you just mumble?"

mrsK · Post by **mrsK** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:01 pm

Ahso!;1269123 wrote: Does that happen to you only with A, MrsK? Or do you notice this occurring more often?

It happens mostly with girls.

It also happens with other teachers that I have spoken to.:-6

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:08 pm

mrsK;1269133 wrote: It happens mostly with girls.

It also happens with other teachers that I have spoken to.:-6I've always had this type of issue, that's why I asked. I do have great hearing even though I have tinnitus as well. But its the funniest thing, I could be looking directly at a person listening intently (or so I believe) and I cannot make out what is being said. It's like I'm in an empty room that is echoing the sound to the degree that its interfering with itself.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:58 pm

Lon;1269027 wrote: Are teenagers talking faster or am I hearing slower? Both on the phone and in person, many young people seem to run their words together at a speed that is almost incomprehensible. They can't possibly text as fast as they speak, or can they?

You probably make them nervous. I know I nervous type when I address you.

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:07 pm

Nomad;1269296 wrote: You probably make them nervous. I know I nervous type when I address you.

What?

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:09 pm

*deleted*

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:10 pm

deleted

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:10 pm

It that senior citizen thing again Lon. :wah:

What?

Post by **spot** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:02 pm

I think the fastest delivery is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records at just under 600wpm. John F Kennedy was really hard to follow when he approached 300. I remember hearing John Smith, the leader of the Labour Party, in debate and you had to focus tightly to keep up, he was around 250-300wpm when he needed it.

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:39 pm

spot;1269315 wrote: I think the fastest delivery is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records at just under 600wpm. John F Kennedy was really hard to follow when he approached 300. I remember hearing John Smith, the leader of the Labour Party, in debate and you had to focus tightly to keep up, he was around 250-300wpm when he needed it.

Ha--------I have some shirt tail relatives living in the state of Mississippi that must speak at 75 wpm-----------sho nuff.:wah:

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:43 am

It's a regional thing as well. scots and irish speak quite rapidly to on another, geordies and the like are much the same and when you go down south it's noticeable how much more slowly people are speaking. When someone is getting angry speech pattern become more rapid I always reckon that is one of the reasons scots and irish are stereotyped as being aggressive-two scots speaking to each other normaklly sound like they're having argument. It's the same difference (I think correct me if I'm wrong) between new yorkers and someone from say alabama-yanks come across as aggressive and pushy because they speak more rapidly. Slow speech is associated with stupidity hence the stereotypes of the southern states.

Used to drive me up the wall when I was working in london-I'd always to restrain myself from telling people to hurry up and get to the point of the sentence.

Thanks to that, the internet, DVDs, steadycam filming, texting, cell phones, and a host of other fast-paced influences, my fellow teachers and myself estimate the average attention-span of a modern teen at about a maximum of about thirty seconds. That means that if you are speaking to a teen, you'd better get your point across fast and without repetition. Drag it out, and you lost them.

Maybe that as well-little kids just do what they are told without question but I think teenagers need to learn to listen as part of growing up , they go from ignoring everything you say to appreciating maybe you know what you are talking about-you kind of have to tell them something, watch while they ignore you and get in a mess and learn that maybe they should have listened to what people are telling them. You can almost see the learning process go on.