20220730 : one at a time

-
This is something as a pattern I have noticed with most of us. It might be right or wrong I don't know for sure, but I shall share it anyway. 

I have always been a lengthy writer. I have not got very used to the messaging shortcuts and acronyms much. I tend to write sentences fully.

Messages have become a big part of my life now. I mostly exist in the WhatsApp world.

Earlier (years ago), I used to live in the world of emails. Even in emails, I tend to be liberal with the content. Mostly detailed/ descriptive about what I am conveying or asking or instructing. 

When I moved into the messages world, I tended to do the same thing. It worked well with what I am conveying, however with the other two categories, I was not very successful and was seeing something interesting.

Let us say i wanted to know about 3 things. 

I would describe the 3 things in 3 paragraphs in detail and assume it was clear.

However, I would receive a response about the first one only.

Next I started to number them so it was clear there are 3 things. (I considered bullet points initially, but not supported on WhatsApp). However, in that case too the same was happening. Sometimes with luck, I would get a response about 2 of them.

This is a general observation and there are exceptions of course.

I also observed, the more verbose I was in what I am seeking, the less likelihood of getting a suitable response. So I started to think and actively cut down on words and be brief and precise with what I am seeking.

This is not any particular group or people. It was across the board.

However, I also started seeing that my success was proportional with age. The younger they are lesser chances of success and more precision was needed.

It was then I realised what was happening. Something we know about very well but I hadn't realised this part.

We have all fallen prey to a dose of ADHD. We can't focus on things which take time to process. Nor can we retain many things in the mind at a time. Only the first thing gets attention/ focus and everything else gets lost.

I am guessing scrolling through posts on social media, continuous watching shorts/ videos/ multitasking regularly between apps and devices have reduced the ability of our minds to stay attentive for more than a few seconds. 

The younger we are, more the influence and impact.

As i said, I might not be a 100% right, but I know I am not 100% wrong either.

What do I do now? Be a storyteller when I want to tell stories.

Everything else one at a time - as precise as I can manage to be... 


Comments

  1. Vinod KD30/7/22 18:17

    You've got the dichotomy right. The messages are to get things done, and the long form to explain things.

    We use slack at work, and I have zero patience for people (esp those that I dont know) who start with "Hi" and expect me to continue the conversation until they tell me what they really want from me. I have nohello.com linked in my profile for that.

    But when I'm in the not getting things done and instead trying to understand a concept, I much prefer long form essays that are explanatory, and hate emojis, online chat short forms, etc. I do like full sentences, and I appreciate when the writer uses a baroque turn of phrase just for the joy of using language to its fullest.

    To that end: may I suggest these two vastly different takes on the matter:
    The Gervais Principle: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/

    Three little pigs like you've never heard before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_UegL1R3X8

    ReplyDelete
  2. Madhukar30/7/22 21:06

    I think you are 100% right. All of us have atleast ADD 😊 degrees may be different for different people but fundamental definition I think is valid for all.

    People who have realised it or all kinds of propaganda guys who are selling something. Marketing/advertising, political, religious or spiritual organizations..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sreekanth5/8/22 18:10

    Thank you for the recommendations KD. The preferences - I have many similar. I see it as age not being able to catch up with the youngsters 😀

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sreekanth5/8/22 18:14

    True Madhukar, the challenge to marketers is to figure out how to catch someone's attention in such diminishing attention spans

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

20240811 - Bubbles on the back

-
Ever since I have had my stroke and became bed ridden, I sleep on a mechanised hospital bed so that I can be inclined and reclined to different levels and heights. It is needed both for me (as my muscles don't support me and I can't get up on my own) as well as the nursing staff to be able to do many things needed for my care). The hospital bed, as you may have noticed in hospitals, has a mattress which is made of rexine upholstery (usually blue in colour - I don't know why). It needs to be a non absorbing upholstery to be able to wash/ wipe the mattress clean as it is very common to soil it for bed ridden people who are in diapers. That makes it hard unlike usual mattresses. Most importantly, I have been lying on an "airbed" on top of the mattress since my stroke, the airbed is also a very common feature for bedridden people (especially strokes like my case). Since we have absolutely no ability in our muscles on the back, waist, hips, etc., we can't turn arou...
Read more

20240520 - Ageing...

-
 Yesterday, a very good friend of mine had come home. We studied together in college.  While we were talking (rather she was speaking and I was mostly nodding along 😊), we realised it was 30 years since we went to college. It doesn't feel like that at all. I can remember some of the days/ incidents very clearly like it was just yesterday.  Same thing happens regularly when I think back of many things scattered all over the duration of my lifetime.  When we realised that it was 30 years ago, we also joked about our own ages now and we were getting old.,  I have similar moments when I see my daughters. Sometimes when I see them do something, It hits me that they are fast growing - and inturn I am fast growing old as well...  But am I?  As I mentioned, everything in my memory feels like yesterday or last week.. I feel very young as well and don't seem to realise I am almost 50. I think our minds are ageless. Over time, with many circumstances and experie...
Read more

20240728 - Pain that can be borne

-
I wrote sometime back (a while back actually I think) that I used to have a very good teeth set but it has become more like a shark teeth set after the stroke. (https://mindofmystrokedbrain.blogspot.com/2021/11/20211125-my-teeth-set.html) One more effect of the stroke was that I couldn't open my jaw much for almost 3+ years. I could Max open my mouth 1-1½ cm. So for all that while I have not brushed my teeth. Though I was not consuming anything orally, i still used to have a mouthful of secretions from the lungs and the saliva. All of this would become a thick fluid because I can't swallow. Imagine it stagnating for hours together. Apart from the small of a septic tank, the other thing is what all this stagnation would have done to the teeth. From about 6m back, I have been able to open the mouth wide enough for a toothbrush head to sneak in (the electric toothbrush). I still can't open it wide enough to reach the back of the molars but I can get to the front of them  Recen...
Read more