Internal noise far outweighs external noise in the context of listening and absorbing the words of a speaker. I have issues with letting my moral and ethical beliefs influence how information is absorbed, or how I react to certain speakers in certain situations. To ratify this issue, I have been working on analyzing every word put into my head and draw many conclusions about something he/she has spoken to me, and also I have been working on being less like a rock with any information and more like a sponge-even if the absorption stays for a brief time.
Internal noise is also much more distracting for me. I find it hard to focus on what the speaker is trying to present if I can't get everything out of my head first.
I can totally relate I love your rock and sponge analogy as well. I would not be able to analyze every word in a speech so that is very impressive that you can do this.
I can agree with not wanting to listen to or absorb a speech or information that I do not agree with. I think it is great that you are working on it and are able to still listen regardless of the fact that you don't necessarily feel the need to.
How dare you voice an opinion so wrong; I hope the internal noise is so distracting all you think of "hmm... I wonder what oh yeah! I'm giving a speech".
Now that you mention it I can also find how internal noise can be more distracting, but you're still wrong.
Now that you mention it I can also find how internal noise can be more distracting, but you're still wrong.