"How come you never talk?" is a five-word phrase extroverts often repeat in my presence. Those of us with quieter personalities often hear these words, unable to understand the necessity of the non-stop communication that our peers demand from us.

I acknowledge that conversations require exchanges of words between two or more people, and I do express my thoughts by dialoguing with anyone who directly addresses me. However, this is simply not enough for some people, who constantly observe how little I talk. I can't count how many times I've heard "That's the longest sentence I've heard you speak," or "You're more talkative than normal today."

The high emphasis others place on the amount of words I add to discussions caused me to realize that our society has lost sight of the importance of listening. People quickly share what's on their mind, adding their two cents before the other person receives a chance to speak. However, I don't talk with others simply to hear myself — I chat with them to discover who they truly are. I speak half as much as I listen because I love hearing the unique insights buried in the depths of people's minds.

Listening is truly an art that can prove difficult for those who tend to disclose their thoughts with everyone. Many people say they want to become better listeners or more attentive, but they're often distracted by their own thoughts or thinking of ways to respond to others during conversations instead of simply listening to what the other person or people have to say. According to thelisteningcards.com, we are distracted during conversations about 75 percent of the time. How can we truly converse with others if we miss half of what they're saying? This type of listening is passive.

Another problem that prevents people from listening during conversations is the tendency to interrupt others in order to assert our opinions. Some people may feel like they will not receive a chance to share their opinion if the conversation changes, so they end up interrupting others instead of letting them have a chance to contribute to the discussion. Regardless of how important our insights are, interrupting others can cause others to feel undervalued, causing them to speak even less in conversations because they feel like nobody cares about what they have to say.

As an introvert, I've noticed my peers often interrupt me quite frequently, especially while I'm in the middle of sharing a story. Instead of letting me finish, they continue with their sentence and don't apologize, giving me no opportunity to finish what I was saying earlier. In addition, I'll often make extra effort to talk more than normal, but people don't even realize I'm speaking and end up talking over me.

This eventually caused me to give up any hope of actively contributing during conversations because others did not pay attention to anything I communicated. Due to this, I made a habit to suppress my thoughts during class discussions and only commented when others directly asked me questions because I did not feel my opinions were valuable.

If this is what ineffective listening looks like, what does effective listening look like? Effective listening is commonly known as active listening. Businessdictionary defines active listening as "the act of mindfully hearing and attempting to comprehend the meaning of words spoken by another in a conversation or speech."

Like it sounds, active listening constitutes taking in the other person's thoughts without interrupting and also responding after they finish speaking. Great listening additionally requires showing respect towards others by paying attention to they say, despite how interesting or uninteresting it may seem to us.

Additionally, active listening includes being considerate towards others with our body language, demonstrating that we truly do value their thoughts. A simple "uh-uh" can even indicate that someone is paying attention during a conversation.

Changing communication behaviors does not occur overnight and will take some practice. Nonetheless, positive results will occur within time if one takes the extra step to improve this necessary social skill. We can learn so much more about other people and strengthen relationships simply by listening more and broadcasting our personal views less.