Dr. Antony Michail
Nov 6Why & how “helicopter view knowledge” (or superficial knowledge) is becoming the norm and why it’s dangerous… Bite Size Thoughts by Dr. Constantine “Dino” Kiritsis, Founder, StudySmart November 2019 Many people read a fact on facebook and either reproduce it or use it in their conversations as an expert; many people see a show on Discovery channel on how to renovate a house and think they know everything about home building; Many people see something in the news on earthquakes and become earthquake experts. They can even assess the earthquake’s magnitude if they move. Others comment on an article, criticize it and a whole discussion arises which makes that person an ‘expert’ in the eyes of his/her network on social media (usually) and the whole discussion remains on the internet for others to refer to and even reproduce and use to support relevant thematic arguments. There are also those who see a 15 - minute TED talk or any video of that sort and become an ‘expert’ in that topic. What makes things worse is that people don’t even like watching videos longer than 3 – 5 minutes (we don’t even have the patience to wait 5 seconds for an add on youtube and we skip it). We all usually scroll a 1 hour video and don’t dig after page 2 of google (they say the best place to hide a dead body is on page 3 of google). It takes a lot more digging and researching to really understand something and be able to hold a conversation . And yes, there are sources after page 2 of google and there is worthwhile information in one hour videos. Well, I hate to break the news to you but there ARE people who know subjects better (they probably have studied the topic and usually have extensive experience in the area) and get very annoyed when people act as if they know everything about a topic in their area after listening to a video or reading a short article that was reposted on facebook. There is a lot more required in understanding a topic in depth. Fortunately, there is a lot of information out there, especially on the net. This information however – in many cases – is mainly unstructured and it is coming in very fast (velocity) so we are not able to synthesize well. Add to this fact the fast pace we are living in along with the short duration of videos to catch our attention, and one gets the idea: Superficial knowledge or a ‘helicopter awareness view” of things. I have a feeling that we are losing ‘focus’… Beware of digital rubbish and ‘mediocracy’ as my friend and associate Dr. Antony Michael likes to say. Next time, instead of saying ‘This is how this is done’ or “let me tell you how that works’ start your statement as follows: ‘ Even though I am not expert or anything on this topic, I recently saw a video and think this is how it is done’ … It shows appreciation and respect to those who DO know how things are done in that specific area and makes you a better communicator. Unless you really ARE an expert… #fakeexperts #digitalrubbish