We are often concerned about the incredible amount of information that is there available online, waiting for us to reach it with just a click: how do we manage it, how do we keep up with it, how do we make space for it. Technology is developing to allow us to save time and energy to get the information that we need or prefer at the time.
But what about the information that we already have there, in front of us, on our screen?
Last Wednesday I posted on Facebook:
In the corridors of the Attica Hospital and from the lips of a retired psychiatrist: "There are no excuses. There is only Injustice and Stupidity."
Bitter truths at the most critical moments…The post was in Greek. From my 956 (at the time) FB friends, let’s say that at least 300 are Greek speaking. The post was read by at least 17 persons who “liked” it. Three of them contacted me to ask me what happened.
You see, the post includes a quote and some information, like the place where the quote was heard.
I thanked one of the friends who contacted me to find out why I was at the hospital, mentioning that only a couple of people had asked me. He wrote back that social media has brought us superficially closer, when indeed we have lost our humanity.
Part of me thought that he is right. Part of me wanted to find a good excuse (paradoxically).
What if the crisis, the daily struggle of people to survive, has made us too “busy” to process everything we hear or see?
What if, in the midst of all this information we choose to keep what makes better sense, what makes us feel good, what helps us to keep going?
Finally, what if it is just in human nature not to pay attention to all the information, but just part of it?
In any case it made me wonder about how selectively we read information and how much of it we miss each time.
Fortunately, the human mind filters information in order to survive! Otherwise our brain would burn out only after a few seconds, if you consider the amount of information we're being exposed to, all the time. It is part of the human nature to comprehend certain amount of data at a specific time and that varies according to the circumstances. I will not agree with your friend's comment about social media and how crisis has turned us more inhuman. I believe that nothing can make you become something you don't want to ... and I believe that it's not the medium's fault, it is the way you use it. If we choose to focus to the human side of people, I am sure we'll see a lot of humanity around. Last but not least, I come to agree with what the retired psychiatrist told you! I really hope everything is turning out alright with you and that critical moments are over! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was listening lately to a relevant podcast by Nature (http://www.nature.com/neurosci/neuropod/index.html) where a neuroscientist stated that we are constantly handling numerous streams of data (external: visual, auditory, temperature, pressure and internal: natural functions and a variety of discomforts/pains).
ReplyDeleteIt stands to reason that it is impossible to do all that consciously.
My take is that as long as we have not trained ourselves to be mindful we are unable to respond and deal effectively with external stimuli. In other words we are lost in our thoughts, our troubles and our discomforts.
What we can do, is gradually improve our ability to be mindful and thus increase our self-awareness and empathy to others.
How? Different people have different answers. My proposal is a combination of yoga, meditation, relaxation, regural exercise for bodily health, good sleep, minimalism, rewarding social interactions and activities. And optimism :-)
Manolis Polychronides
Thank you both, Vasso and Manolis, for your contribution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Vasso, that nothing and no-one can make us become something we do not want, or already are ;-) I also firmly believe that is it always our choice who we want to be; where we want to focus as you write here.
I agree with Manolis, Mindfulness and Empathy are abilities worth working on.
There is another question/ concern I have though. As coaches Vasso, we are "trained" to listen deeply, to read between the lines, to pay attention to everything that is there expressed in any form. But, what about when we are the ones sending the message? How many information we - I - have failed to pass to the other receiver? How important was the information missed and what would have been different if it was successfully received by the other?