Jumbled thoughts

I've noticed over the last few days: 1) how much [some] people like talking about what they know (this mostly refers to themselves) and 2) how much [some] people do not listen. I've noticed this before - I mean everyone has experienced talking to someone & noticing halfway through that they may as well be talking to the wall behind them. Everyone has also experienced listening to someone and halfway through drifting off to another thought, because really, what the person is saying ain't all that interesting. There seems to be a connection.
It's the first time though that I'm noticing it without being involved. I view conversations where each person has his own ideas so well wrapped up in his mind that he's just waiting for the other person to stop making noise so that he can make himself heard. And yet they won't be heard, because the other person is too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Or they'll be heard through a filter of prior assumptions, judgments, biases, etc. This filter is so difficult to get rid of because it's built from day one. If only we could remove it and absorb everything and learn without judgment -- but that would result in chaos -- these filters prevent our minds from becoming overloaded with information - it sorts out what it considers important & what isn't worth it. So maybe not listening to each other is healthy for our brains?