One of the few magazines we subscribe to, that I actually read, is TIME. In the last issue, there was an article that caught my eye — it was about people that are “overtalkers.”
Often times I think that maybe I talk too much — I always speak up in meetings or when I’m in a group of people and I’m not hesitant to express my opinion. And sometimes later, I think that I should have just kept quite, or that maybe I said too much.
The TIME article basically indicated that the world is filled with overtalkers and went on to talk about a number of famous people — some that probably talk too much, but many that choose their words carefully and and use pauses at the appropriate place in their conversation.
Not too surprisingly, men claim the title of champions of overtalking. There’s a word to describe problem of overtalking — talkaholism. The term was coined by a pair of communication-studies scholars (Virginia P. Richmond and James C. McCrosky) at West Virginia University to describe a form of extreme overtaking. They described talkaholism as an addiction, and said that while a talkaholic’s gift with words can help them advance in their careers, their inability to rein in their overtalking can lead to personal and professional difficulties.
So after reading the article, I wondered if maybe I was a talkaholic. The article listed a self-scored questionnaire that supposedly can identify people who suffer from the condition. The article indicated where the test could be found online, so I took the test. (You can find it on the TIME website if you’re interested.)
It turns our that I’m not a talkaholic. The most you can score on the test is 50 and my score was 25. If you score between 30 and 40, you’re a “marginal” talkaholic.
So when people tell me I talk too much, I can say that maybe I do, but at least I’m not a talkaholic.
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