Thoughts and observations on daily life and activities
Yes, after many years absence I am returning to my blog. Posts will appear at unregulated intervals, or not at all, depending on how the whim takes me
To paraphrase Hale and Pace in their Yorkshire Airlines sketch
“I’ll write what I like, How I like, When I like, ‘Cos I’m the blogger right!”
So, look out for more, or not so much, of the same.
One of the complaints I often hear is that I am contrary, and in many ways I am.
This however is a reflection of my personality, formed over years of life experiences. I can seem open and closed, talkative and quiet, outgoing and reserved, the list goes on. I have developed \’coping strategies\’ over the years, and this means I react differently in different situations and how I feel about them, and even from day to day I may react differently in the same situation.
One thing that often confuses is that I have a multitude of ‘faces’ to help me deal with what is happening around me, bizarrely to many I can seem very open and sharing, and yet there is a mental disconnect – what I say does not affect what I am thinking and feeling, this can result in people thinking that they have a connection that simply does not exist.
I am in some respects a “people person” in that I can engage with and socialise with people, and yet I am also a isolationist, happy with my own company. I need people to inspire and encourage me, left to my own devices I retreat inwards, but I need space to be alone – if I can not do it physically, I do it mentally, I retreat inside my mind.
A good example of this is distant learning. I started a web-design course a few years ago that was distant learning, and I struggled with it, I felt my tutor was not interested in my questions and not engaged with me. Ultimately I dropped it. By contrast, FutureLearn uses a MOOC approach, where tutors and students can interact with each other in a kind of giant virtual classroom – I study when and where I like, but can still chat with other students and ask questions – even at 1am in bed 🙂
My life is a constant, non-stop conversation – if it is not a monologue, it is a dialogue. Conversations with multiple people regularly take place in my head. I tell myself stories, I discuss things occurring in my life, I work out problems and issues I predict the future and revisit the past, silence is never there – probably when I am sleeping I am talking to myself.
I have possibly confused psychologist when they ask questions like “do you hear voices in your head?” because the answer is yes, I do. and they do tell me what to do. but that is life – people telling me what to do – sometimes I agree, and sometimes I do not.
Am I “crazy”? possibly, but if I am crazy then it is normal for me to be crazy. I have no plans (at the moment) to run amok, or take all my clothes off and dance to the rites of spring or build a tower to the moon
An anomaly that is in part a reflection of the way I see the world is that I do not ‘see’ things in the conventional sense, especially people. I have impressions that form my view – as an example, I can not describe even those people closest to me, their ‘image’ is as much a series of vague intangibles rather than a specific physical attribute. This makes me terrible at recognising people – I see similarities where others see none, and fail to spot similarities that everyone else can see. Just don’t ask me to do a identity parade, I would no doubt accuse the Chief Inspector of being the thief that stole my wallet! I am probably a celebrities dream, I could pass them in the street or be sat next to them in a bar and not even notice.
In short, if you think you know me – you are doing better than anyone else ever has 🙂
The thing about language is that it is constantly changing and evolving, and words and expressions come in and go out of fashion.
Often though, a new buzz word or phrase will become mis-used and the meaning corrupted.
A good example of this is the recent rise of the use of the expression “cognitive dissonance”
I often see it being used to refer to someone who is happily or unwittingly holding contradictory views, yet this is an incorrect use of the term. Cognitive dissonance is actually described as
“anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like”
Dictionary.com
Notice that when correctly used, cognitive dissonance introduces mental discomfort caused by the awareness that the views are incompatible with each other – so the person can not honestly be described as ‘happily holding’ or ‘unwittingly holding’ contradictory views, since this would not bring about the required dissonance.
Sadly, most people will continue to blithely mis-use words because they do not understand the true meaning, but the word or phrase has become ‘popular’ and apparently a social imperative has arisen to be seen to be using the ‘in’ words, so they continue to mis-use them and perpetuate the mis-use in doing so.
I recently came across a disingenuous use of statistics to support an argument, but sadly it is one that I see on an increasingly frequent basis.
A poll was held with 2 options A or B
Option A was the most popular response, but the author supported option B
Therefore, in order to validate why Option B was the ‘right’ answer, they sub-divided the responses to A into A1, A2, A3, A4. Having created these sub-options, they then argued that option B had more support than any of the sub-option A responses, and therefore should be regarded as the valid result.
They ignored the fact that option B could equally have been divided into sub-options, and consequently these new sub-options would have not been able to attract a majority opinion either.
However, this is not a new tactic, political parties and pressure groups have been using this re-interpretation and re-classification of results to generate a mis-leading view of the statistics for many years. Even when they use apparently valid terminology like “weighting”, “re-sampling”, “corrected” this often hides the primary motive to present the data in a way that fits their agenda or pre-conceptions.
What is a cause for concern is that as people become more and more attuned to a sound-bite, easily digestible, news flash style of information presentation, they become less and less inclined to check the information being presented, or validate the claims being made – it is easier to click ‘share’ on facebook than it is to check the source for accuracy. This leads to an over-reliance on other people to supply their information, and leaves the recipient vulnerable to bias. Indeed, often when I have challenged people about the reliability of information they have shared, they expressed no idea of how to verify or check the facts for themselves – they just blindly trust that the information is right.
We are living in a world where the ability to check facts is more easy than it was say 10 years ago, yet people are showing less and less critical analysis of information being presented, and this could well lead to a new underclass of the research-poor, where the only information and knowledge they have is that which others choose to share with them, and so far more easily manipulated. Whilst many people are aware in some degree of bias in the print media, they are totally unaware of bias in digital media, assuming it is mysteriously free from the bias that they appreciate exists in more traditional forms of media.
Maybe the solution is to introduce courses in digital literacy, including how to research and fact-check information presented online. I accept that some people will for a variety of reasons opt to not avail themselves of such opportunities, but as they say “you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make it drink”. Education, of all ages and groups of society is a key to social improvement – we have campaigned to see access to education and opportunities extended to minorities over the last century, and the challenge is not done – we must continue to push for ongoing education to prevent segments of society being left behind.
“If you have a choice between being right, and being kind, choose being kind”
This piece of advice was given recently, and it has a lot of value, but what if you have a choice where being ‘kind’ to one person means being ‘cruel’ to another?
Many years ago when I was starting my adult journey, I received a great piece of advice when trying to make a decision that would have long-term consequences potentially.
Never be afraid to make a hard decision; and once made, do not waste time rehashing the past or regretting your decisions – what is done is done, learn from the past and move on to the future.
There are decisions I have made that possibly I would have handled differently with the benefit of hindsight, but I made the decision that seemed right to me at the time. I attempt to learn from the errors in how I handled the decision and try to not repeat them in the future.
We may not always make decisions that are easy, and sometimes the decisions we make will cause upset to someone else. Never rush these decisions if you have time to reflect a while longer. Taking the time to consider the decision, the options and the consequences will help you both make a better decision, and be better prepared to handle the out-working of the decision
This re-suscitation of my blog was long overdue. Originally inspired by a study friend, can you call someone a friend who you have never met except through an online course? hmmmm, if you can have a pen-friend who you just write to, then why not a studying friend?
Unlike previous versions this is a personal abstract, so there will probably be less internet stuff and more random stuff. I will add content erratically, there may be months between, or there may be hours between posts – my blog, my idiosyncracies 🙂