At some point in your life, if you haven’t already, you are going to have to talk to a person. I know, it’s crazy. Odds are though, that you’ve done it before. In fact, when you were in diapers you were probably babbling in front of strangers without a care in the world. It’s nothing new to us, so why is it so hard?

   It’s probably time to face the elephant in the room now. We are a pretty antisocial society that prefers technology over talking . That’s not to say this is a sin. It’s great! We’ve come so far you can talk to someone in Russia while still in your apartment! How amazing is that? Technology is almost too great to be a scapegoat, but here we are. We literally have classes to teach us how to speak in front of others! It’s quite a change from what our parents had to deal with.

   Who can really blame us, though? There’s every iota of human knowledge at our fingertips with the right smartphone! Who cares what you neighbor is blabbering on about when you just downloaded new songs?

   The reality is though, that to be successful you have to know your way around people. You have to be fluent and attentive to those around you in order to get ahead. Conversations may be stalling, and that’s alright. However, capturing an audience attention is still very relevant in today’s society. You have to gain people’s attention to get anything done! It’s a vital and rare skill these days. Thankfully, many schools have caught onto this, and made public speaking classes.

   Even most English classes require a speech or two to be presented effectively for a grade. Speaking in front of peers is something we’ve lost, but we have taken measures to get back that focus in our lives. It may seem obsolete, but public speaking is something that gives us edge and a better chance once we leave school. It is definitely still necessary.