Mindlessness and Communication
I've noticed that this kind of thing happens frequently, even with people close to us:
Situational contexts vary greatly. We could be planning a joke on a friend with another friend. We could be sitting in a car with a family member. We could be asking a friend for a favor. The basic premise could involve the need for a task to be completed, explicitly or ambiguously. Or a random analysis of a seemingly complex object. Someone ends up making an assumption about the incompetency of another, and notably expresses their concern, or gives an unnecessary reminder. The issue is usually trivial, but I am curious as to its foundations.
For example, one time I was planning a small practical joke on the roommate of a friend. The idea was simple: this roommate is a mess with toothpaste tubes, and after a few weeks of use, the lid of the tube becomes encased with gobs of dried toothpaste. Even though the old messy tube wasn't even half-used, the roommate bought a new tube of toothpaste to forget about the mess. We were going to carefully recreate the dried toothpaste mess in the new tube, and reseal it back into the original package, awaiting the roommate's use.
Midway through the careful oozing and drying process of achieving the desired level of dried toothpaste mess, my friend told me, "don't forget to prop up the lid of the tube so that it doesn't stick to the carpet in my room." Trivial. Absolutely harmless and irrelevant. But so obvious. Why did he remind me to do something that I couldn't have possibly screwed up? I didn't think that he was concerned that I would be careless. I doubt it was something that he himself would've accidentally done, resulting in his decision to remind me. But then why?
People are just really mindless nowadays; they speak before they think. Without cause or reason. People complain and grumble and chatter mindlessly at length all of the time. In some cases it may correlate with genuine concerns, and lack of trust in competency or dependability of others. Anxieties, worries, and whatnot. But how much of the time is it just mindlessness, immediately forgettable material? I think that if people were more mindful when appropriate, they may have the potential of more advanced communication and greater relationships. And productivity, efficiency, happiness, and all of that other stuff.
Situational contexts vary greatly. We could be planning a joke on a friend with another friend. We could be sitting in a car with a family member. We could be asking a friend for a favor. The basic premise could involve the need for a task to be completed, explicitly or ambiguously. Or a random analysis of a seemingly complex object. Someone ends up making an assumption about the incompetency of another, and notably expresses their concern, or gives an unnecessary reminder. The issue is usually trivial, but I am curious as to its foundations.
For example, one time I was planning a small practical joke on the roommate of a friend. The idea was simple: this roommate is a mess with toothpaste tubes, and after a few weeks of use, the lid of the tube becomes encased with gobs of dried toothpaste. Even though the old messy tube wasn't even half-used, the roommate bought a new tube of toothpaste to forget about the mess. We were going to carefully recreate the dried toothpaste mess in the new tube, and reseal it back into the original package, awaiting the roommate's use.
Midway through the careful oozing and drying process of achieving the desired level of dried toothpaste mess, my friend told me, "don't forget to prop up the lid of the tube so that it doesn't stick to the carpet in my room." Trivial. Absolutely harmless and irrelevant. But so obvious. Why did he remind me to do something that I couldn't have possibly screwed up? I didn't think that he was concerned that I would be careless. I doubt it was something that he himself would've accidentally done, resulting in his decision to remind me. But then why?
People are just really mindless nowadays; they speak before they think. Without cause or reason. People complain and grumble and chatter mindlessly at length all of the time. In some cases it may correlate with genuine concerns, and lack of trust in competency or dependability of others. Anxieties, worries, and whatnot. But how much of the time is it just mindlessness, immediately forgettable material? I think that if people were more mindful when appropriate, they may have the potential of more advanced communication and greater relationships. And productivity, efficiency, happiness, and all of that other stuff.
posted by Ted Miin at 3/11/2007 05:43:00 PM
3 Comments:
I think the problem with second-guessing people is a whole subject in itself. It's a control issue. Like driving in the car with someone who needs constant updates about the status of the trip and points out obvious things to watch out for. And by someone I mean Charles.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by saying that it's a control issue. Does the production of those sorts of unnecessary comments make people feel that they are more on top of things? As if they are more aware of what is best/right? Is it intentional?
No I mean like specifically when someone is watching someone else do something and they don't like something about the way they're doing it they might feel inclined to say something just to reach for a little control of the situation. Like, if you let a friend borrow your car and you were riding with them you might unnecessarily point of directions and road advice just because you're uncomfortable giving up control. Seems less mindless than just blurting things out randomly.
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