i talk to myself

Ask questions. It sounds simple, but to me, there’s no excuse for a lack of knowledge. With the vast supply of information available on the internet and in the experiences of others, I always ask if I don’t know or understand something. Sometimes, I risk looking unaware or underprepared, but I believe it’s more valuable to increase my understanding when I can. This helps me understand other people’s perspectives better while talking to them because my questions help me empathize with and rationalize their thoughts. When I become complacent with my understanding, I remind myself how much can be learned from sources one might typically overlook.  Why do some people find asking questions so terrifying? Is it believable that public speaking is such a widely practiced fear? More than even death, people fear looking stupid. That has an interesting implication for our society and what that implies about human nature. We all are born "stupid," but as we grow up, we feel entitled to n...

News media, in its quality and content, are determined by people. Every time we swipe up on a story or click on a catchy title that catches our eye, we are fed with personally-curated information. Enticing in theory, we are only, slowly and constantly, reinforcing our beliefs, subscribing to news outlets that confirm our preconceived notions. It is instinctual for us to want to read something that agrees with us, but those “harmless” tendencies lead to paradigms known as confirmation bias and false consensus effect, which are causing a global catastrophe: the mass interpretation of the news. Take the pandemic. A public health crisis emerged as information was poorly disseminated and poorly interpreted by the public. Everyone believed a different story about a health crisis that people were objectively losing their lives to every day. It is in these instances that a great responsibility is placed on the average citizen.  We require an extensive campaign to bring awareness to critica...