Digital Diets & World Views
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a digital diet I would recommend reading Heidi Hanna, PhD article in Thrive Global. It is an important topic to be aware of.
It is far too easy to keep the IV of the news plugged in at all times.
We should ask some important questions of ourselves.
What type of content am I consuming?
Is it opinion based?
Is it fact checked?
How sensationalized is the writing?
Are these clickbait titles I am continually clicking?
Have I paid attention to any major conflicts of interest in the creation of the content?
How credible are the sources?
Does the site use dark patterns ? (@Alexander Darlington)
How do I know if the sources are even credible?
Am I gaining any benefit from my continued data consumption?
How is this affecting my mental health?
How does this specific digital diet create a unique world view in my mind?
Let’s take this concept of the world view generated in your mind a little further.
Have you considered the number of possible world views on offer? As you consume data both in the analog and digital space, your mind is constantly updating your world view. Now, imagine the differences in data each individual has access to and chooses to consume. The possibility of divergence is near infinite. We can debate around the validity of each divergence, but that isn’t my point today.
Now that we have imagined this range of difference in world views let us reflect.
What are we wrong about?
Are we isolating ourselves from other groups, other nations, other opinions or the other in general?
Can we muster the emotional and intellectual strength to accept that the political leaders in each country across the world do not necessarily reflect the will and values of their citizens, as much as we would like to believe this is the case?
When it comes to the Chinese, hold as much anger or frustration to the political leaders for their treatment of the Uyghur’s, but don’t map those emotions onto the individual or other citizens of the world who may be of Chinese descent. There may be many Chinese people who hold beliefs similar to yours but lack the power to act on them. How powerful do you feel when it comes to influencing the operations of your own government? Maybe the Chinese people could use our help.
When it comes to the United States, we’ve seen an incredibly immature response by many of its political leaders. And there are a plethora of reasons to criticize Trump. Let’s not extend this to every American citizen though, remember Trump didn’t even win the popular vote. Maybe the U.S. people could use our help.
Maybe the (insert any relevant country) people could use all of our help.
The image continually painted in our minds of “what” another country is or “what” another group is must always be incorrect. How can we define and capture an ever changing, immensely diverse group of individuals, and how may we expect them to grow and change without affording them the right to do so in our own minds?
If there is a benefit of the Corona Virus Pandemic, I believe it is a chance for us to come together as a species. Whether we like it or not, we are now the gardeners of planet earth. The problems we face can only be solved if we cooperate. This level of cooperation requires an effort to increase emotional intelligence from every world citizen.