10. Listening Posts

What is a Listening Post?

A listening post is where a person gains information and/or maybe listens and soaks up gossip. A listening post can be virtually any place, anywhere. Places that come to my mind when I hear 'listening post' would be a hair salon, nail salon, high school, and a small town in general. Anyone that lives in a small town knows that there's no business they have that the whole town does not know about. 

The concept of listening posts is interesting, though. Where does one gain their information most commonly? Does a listening post have to be a place? Can a listening post be a person? I feel as though my listening posts are the people I hang out with. Not necessarily a certain place, although if I had to choose a place, it would probably be our apartment. But I learn most of my knowledge about what's going on from my roommates and people that I am most commonly around. 


If I had to pinpoint the exact places that I could consider listening posts, though, those places would probably be my apartment, where I work, and maybe the farm road or a coffee shop. Those places are typically where I converse the most.

In high school, my listening posts were probably the high school cafeteria and riding around in someone's car. That's really when you get people talking the most: when you are riding around in a car together for a while. Something about it just strikes deep conversation. 

Listening posts do not have to be 'gossip hubs' per say. I would argue that listening posts can also be where you get to know people and really have meaningful life conversations.

Social media could also act as a listening post. Twitter is one that comes to mind. Some people are pretty ruthless and seemingly thoughtless about what they are okay with putting out on the internet. So I would say in terms of social media, Twitter is definitely the largest listening post platform.

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