Anger is a curious emotion.Â
We've all been at both the giving and receiving end of anger, and we all know, oh so well, that when we give it we're in the right, but when we receive it, the giver is in the wrong. Anger is perhaps the curiousest (yep, that's a word) emotion out there, but how angry should we be at other seemingly angrier people?
In an argument or debate you generally have two sides discussing an issue: FOR, and AGAINST. It's usually black and white. Debates can get quite a bit heated, and the ugly face of anger often peaks its unwarranted head. However, is this such a bad thing?
Why do people get angry? Apathetic people definitely don't, and purely self-centred people don't care much for issues involving a macrocosm enough to get riled up over them. People usually get angry because they care deeply about the issue at hand, and are so frustrated by their oppositions view on the matter that it evokes the curious emotion. In short, people get angry because the they recognize there needs to be a solution to an issue, or at least a discussion around its significance.Â
One of the things I hate most in this world is blissful ignorance: outright refusal of education with no desire to even listen to fact. I'm a scientist, and though I will sit and listen to people talk about things that don't directly influence my life in contemporary times like books, art and history of the French renaissance, if I go to those same people and talk about huge scientific discoveries they instantly block their ears and utter things like "blah blah blah are u actually explaining boooring science to me? I dont caaaare". That frustrates me, and has made me seeded with anger at my partner more often that I'd like. Science has a direct bearing on everyone's life and to feign ignorance when someone is trying to explain a short, but important scientific discovery or concept just makes me feel like the person is afraid of both knowledge and the truth, and are perfectly comfortable in their perpetual ignorance. Â
Angry people, however, are only angry because they've given the issue some thought. However ignorant their stance may be, at least there's a stance. If you debate with an angry person and there's some good back-and-forth, you both end up gaining perspective and shaping your critical thought. Progress around controversial issues can only happen when people get angry, and people get angry when they debate, and people debate when they care, and people care when the issue matters.
Aubrey Oday once said "I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong". It's among my favourite quotes, but if I were to change it, I'd add ... "however, at least you care, and that's all right by me."
Anger... is a curious emotion.
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"You can't have your cake and eat it too", and why this phrase is makes little sense
Simple. It's poorly worded. It suggests that you cannot have a cake and be allowed to eat it. What, then, is the essence of having a cake?Â
There's this game, called Telephone, where your friends and you stand in a circle and one phrase is passed from person to person via word of mouth (whispered in your friend's ear). You are not allowed to have the phrase repeated to you, so you must tell the person beside you the phrase as you think you heard it. By the end of the circle, the terminal member must repeat the phrase aloud to the group, and it is compared with the original message by the first member.
This game almost always ends in disaster.Â
As you see the message being passed from person to person, giggles in tow, you can only imagine how screwed up the message has become. By the end of the circle, it's made clear that people are bad at passing messages word of mouth without having it change dramatically.Â
Such is the case with this phrase. The original, purportedly (i.e. Wikipedia), was something along the lines of "You cannot eat your cake, while at the same time still keep it". Meaning that as you enjoy your cake, you will incidentally have less and less of it less -- it's the consequence of enjoying it.Â
So what's the moral of this story?Â
Take everything you hear with a grain of salt, because society is just one giant game of telephone, and we're not exempt from screw-ups. Not in the slightest.Â
Starting tonight (May 20th) begins my (almost) week-long Facebook hiatus. It will be hard fought; it will be painful, but it will also be a humbling experience.Â
I don't quite consider myself a Facebook addict, but I will not underscore my dependence on the social networking site. It's hard for me to go an hour without checking my news feed, let alone a day. This will be five days - without warning and without notifying those who are so accustomed to my undeniable presence on Facebook.Â
Tonight I deactivated my account.
Tomorrow begins the first full day of the rest of my life my Facebook Five Challenge. Hopefully, if I last long enough, I will be reactivating my account no earlier than Sunday night.Â
In the brave words of Obama, "here goes everything"! See you when I do, World!Â
It was weird. I was definitely suffering through a bit of a Facebook withdrawl. There was a persistent itch to update my status, share interesting content that I found on the web and check for notifications.
I caved. I ended up reactivating my profile for a minute in order to share my "Check-In". I was at an advanced screening of the upcoming movie "Now You See Me", and I felt the need to share this awesome experience (I've never been offered a chance at an adv. screening before, and I'm a HUGE movie guy).
Acceptance. I got over the need to check my Facebook profile pretty quickly, and came to embrace my life without it.
So what happened to my productivity? It's actually worse than it usually is. I used to use Facebook as an excuse to take breaks, but now that it's gone, I just fill up that void with other (much more) time consuming activities. I didn't expect this to happen, but it makes sense. What I engaded in was what I would call... pseudo-procrastination. I spent time looking at international news websites, reading up on the "Benghazi" scandal, looking up available scholarships, applying for a volunteering position at TEDxToronto 2013, among other unproductively-productive ventures. Perhaps it's for the better, but it definitely did not reflect a keen sense of priority organization, that's for sure.
Day 2:
Today was a mildy more disciplined than the first. The urge to check Facebook was more easily replaced with the urge to use other websites. Upon second though, I'm not sure than can be classified as more disciplined.
Productivity. It isn't better, but it's changing. I don't take as many breaks during a task, but I take much longer breaks between them.
Breaking bad. I'm watching way more shows/day than I used to. I think I'm using it as a distraction. In any case, I tend to be marathoning the show on the daily.
Clock is not ticking. It's just not. I can't believe it's only been two days. It feels more like two weeks. Ah well. 3 days left.
Day 3-4-5-6:
I guess it's over? I thought I was only on day 3 or 4, but seeing as I started on the 20th of May, and it's currently the 27th, It appears I've completed the challenge, and then some. What was originally a Facebook Five, is now, seemingly, a Facebook Week!
Reflecting back on my week without Facebook, I can honestly say that I did notice some interesting differences in my lifestyle habits: I noticed that I tended to eat more, watch WAY more TV, and think less about philosphy. I also took to Reddit much more than I usually did, to keep me entertained and current.
Pros vs. Cons:
      Pros:
Focused, sustained productivity did in fact increase. I thought more about self-development, and strived to get checklists completed with more vigor than usual.
Serenity. Being disconnected from the rush and hustle of social media for a few days was actually pretty therapeutic. I didn't have to worry about event invites, about gossip flying left and right, about depressing statuses and about how much of a better time everybody else is having on their summer vacation than me (I'm stuck in my dorm, reading 100s of textbook pages a week, attending summer school classes, and attending an intensive MCAT prep course -- it's not the most fun I've had, to say the least).
    Cons:
I wasn't much more productive than I normally would be, because Facebook was not the factor that decreased productivity the most -- distractions were, more specifically YouTube, Movies and other video content. My productivity style changed, but that was about it.
Disconnection. I have no idea how many important birthdays I missed, I have no idea which of my friends would have really benefitted from advice, I have a lagging sense of breaking news and current events, as I have no timeline to review for such content. The most damaging part about being off Facebook for so many days was the social and societal disconnect associated with it.
Communication. The ways by which I could reach people was seriously hindered by my deactivation of Facebook. I noticed that I have much fewer phone numbers than I do active contacts. I noticed this most prominently when I was forced to go to the address of a friend that I wanted to hang out with to ask a question, instead of just Facebook messaging, as I usually do. I gotta ask for more numbers, instead of asking for Facebook Friend Invites all the time. Duly noted.
So what can I conclude from this experience? Facebook makes you more connected to your networks, more current and can be used very effectively as a social tool for communication, event planning, etc. However, this comes at the expense of complicating life and its simple pleasures, as well as being "always on" for others, even when you would like some quiet time. It was a pretty good experience, and I have learned a bit more about myself. I really missed not being able to share interesting content instantly with friends and family over Facebook, but it did make me realize that not everything important needs to be shared right away. In any case, I'm happy to be done with that challenge, and reactivate my Facebook account, I shall.
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