Despite the fact that human beings spend a great deal of time talking, it is an activity we tend not to think about very much. It is, in fact, one of the defining features of being a human being. However, it is remarkable how often talking becomes delinked from communication.

This, in turn, can have a serious impact on relationships and on any attempts at self-awareness. Thoughtless speech can destroy a relationship, and heightened rhetoric can start or end a war, and yet we treat this power with great casualness. A quick look at search engines reveals that many of us wonder, and so ask the internet, why so many people seem to speak without listening. There are many psychological theories for why this might be the case—such as an expression of anxiety, a desire to impress, or simply to fill empty space. And Uncle Colm from "Derry Girls" has become legend for his strange, detailed, derailed, and rambling filibusters on topics such as boiled sweets.

The researchers Virginia Richmond and James C. McCroskey developed the Talkaholic Scale to help examine the phenomenon of overtalking. Many overtalkers are aware of their tendencies and how they impact their lives. As Dan Lyons notes in his book STFU: The Power of Keeping Your........

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