So much of our focus is on what we are being told and how much and trying to screen it out and get to the things we want to talk about or have anything to do with at all. It becomes the two-sided coin information onslaught/embarrassment of information riches that we have to struggle with each day. And we sigh with longing at the people who choose not to watch TV or go to movies, but we ignore that they work for internet companies, have cell phones and tablets and spend just as much time connected as the rest of us. The unplugged human being is swiftly becoming the Dodo and will fade into myth to become the Unicorn. Which you have to be careful of because they are feisty as proven in recent horror movies.
So during the bombardment, while we’re ducking and weaving, fastforwarding and deleting, and complaining and unfriending, liking and tweeting we forget that we should be questioning. And the most important question isn’t “what?” but “why?”. Why are they telling me this? Why are they telling it to me that way? Why are they telling it to me at this time in connection with this? These questions cut through the spin and the glitz and the speed and the hype. They slow things down, they quiet the noise and they cause us to reflect and use our minds like detectives, not only on ‘them’ but on ourselves.
We are targeted each and every day because of who we are or who we are perceived to be. Targeted by people who want to sell us things, who want to get something from us, who want to add us to their membership or influence our opinions. They want to add our voice to theirs, make their numbers, or validate their perspective. But that’s not what they tell us. That’s not what they present because if they did we wouldn’t necessarily respond at all the way they want. So they present what they are doing or wanting as something else. And they do it in a way that isn’t necessarily confrontation or obvious. It can be subtle.
And people will feel that it’s not fair and not right and shouldn’t happen….well, perhaps that’s true, but it happens everyday in every relationship and its called communication. Because you can’t tell me that you haven’t spun something to decrease the impact, to focus attention where you want it, or fibbed about your goal unless you are 3 years old or less. Anyone older than that has transgressed in this way just to get an extra cookie. So we should be expert in seeing others do it. But are we? Do we look past the message to see the meaning? With relationships many times we do. But with advertising, politics, organizations, non-profits, you name it we usually take them at their word. We turn off our critical thinking. And we really shouldn’t.
Just because there is a lot of information out there and we get bombarded everyday doesn’t give us an excuse to not think. It doesn’t give us an excuse to not examine what is being said and why. It doesn’t mean we can just blindly accept what is reported to us by friends, coworkers or the media. We need to look at what is being reported, what isn’t, and ask that irritating question, Why?
