Thinking about Thinking
Sitting at my table thinking about what could a person like me contribute to the wider society in this fast paced, ‘‘overeducated’’ world.
‘‘Thinking!’’- I thought. This word and all the processes behind it were always a point of certain interest and amusement to me. I am not the most well read or most traveled or most educated person in the world -far from it. But there is a certain thought constantly lingering in the back of my mind,- a question. What went wrong? What changed?
In the last few years of my life -about 10 of them- I noticed a major shift on how people approach and solve problems at hand. I work with people on a daily basis employers, employees, partners and customers likewise, so I have plenty of experience to go on by and try and identify and analyze ‘‘the problem’’.
When I was younger -my twenties- there was one ‘‘thing’’ I was always told by my teachers, tutors and older, more experienced peers. ‘‘Common Sense!’’ By Cambridge Dictionary definition: the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way.
I never knew the definition, but like to think that I always understood what it meant by heart. A few years down my life I started working, this meant way more interaction with people coming from diverse cultural and educational background. As I was working my way up through the ranks in a very rapid manner I noticed a certain tendency between less successful/fortunate colleagues. This tendency was a general lack of -and ability of practical application of ‘‘common sense’’
I remember thinking and saying;’’ -Common sense is not common anymore!’’ every time something was not done or executed in a sensible way. Until one day few years down my career a new thought struck my mind -while I was watching a family member struggling to use a PC or a smartphone. Every single little action was an uphill battle (including double clicking)- what if ‘‘common sense’’ didn’t disappear, but transformed.
‘‘Digital Revolution’’
An era spanning all the way from the ‘70s to present day(many would argue it started in 1947 with the invention of the first Transistor)the greatest invention of which to this day is ‘‘The Internet’’
Everything dramatically changed with the introduction of Smartphones and the ability of being connected all the time. Common sense now became ‘‘Digital’’. Majority of our interactions are involving some kind of interaction with the ‘‘Digital World’’ -DigiWorld for short -JK
This new ‘‘common sense’’ -although very useful in the digital world- not very useful in real life. ‘‘Digital common sense’’ leads to ‘‘Digital Thinking’’ and this is not really useful when it comes to solution of real life problems.
I constantly encounter people unable to solve simple day to day problems, people unable to complete duties and tasks assigned to them without me giving them a really long and thorough guide on whats and whys of the given task.
I keep thinking about what could be done to reintroduce ‘‘common sense’’ into people’s lives? What kind of guidance is required to improve people’s ability to think more ‘‘Real life’’ and less ‘‘Digital’’? Questions still unanswered…
Well, for now I keep thinking about thinking.
