John Kater
William Tucker
Interpersonal Communication
 10 May 2010
Interpersonal Communication and You
Interpersonal communication is a widely unknown term to many people. They do not realize what it is or how they use it in their everyday lives. There are many different relationships such as the I-It, I-You, and I-Thou. Myself personally have troubles with the I-Thou relationships. I have always been able to start a conversation and keep it going and create a relationship that’s goes beyond and to the next level of interaction.
	I strive in the I-It relationships; this type of relationship is when someone might say “Hi” and you completely ignore them or disregard that they even exist or there. I can walk by anyone and treat them as they weren’t even there. There are plenty of examples of me demonstrating this, such as when walking through the hallways at school and I see some annoying student beginning to inch his or her way toward me I would just turn to the opposite direction and not look at them or even get out my phone and pretend to be texting or talking on the phone. I treat these people like they are the scum between my toes and matter as much to me as a rock would.
	I-You relationships are used for most interactions in life. This means that people mean more to you then objects. This is the basic level of communicating with someone. You might say something to them such as “Hey what is up?” and they would respond back with something such as “Oh just got me a new stud muffin shirt”. With them responding you can continue to take the conversation farther and farther. In this level of interaction you keep your private lives fairly hidden but keep up a socially acceptable appearance. I have plenty of I-You relationships; for instance when waiting for some of my classes to start I sit in the hallway and talk to multiple people as they walk by or as they sit down around me. I start off a conversation by saying “Hi” and then they respond promptly and we continue to talk back and forth.
	I-Thou relationships are the highest level of interaction. During this type of relationship you move past just being social with individuals and you start keying into their uniqueness of the individual. During these types of relationships you assume trust and are more likely to disclose more deep, more private and different aspects of our lives.