Category: psychology

Why all any of us want is human contact

Human-contactMost of us rarely give our daily relationships with friends, work colleagues and close family a second thought. We’ll share a joke, make each other a cup of tea or have a hug without considering the deep emotional impact it has on us.

Fortunately, for many of us the lack of any of these relationships won’t ever really be felt but when they disappear they can have a marked impact.

I’ve been volunteering at my local Age UK in Brighton for a few months now, teaching people computer skills on a drop-in basis. As someone who’s fairly tech-savvy, I’m usually able to answer most questions posed, be it email problems, finding specific information online or tweaking settings on an iPad.

But the truth of it is, the ‘computer problems’ aren’t the real reason people drop in on a regular basis. What the older people are really there for is the social element.
Continue reading “Why all any of us want is human contact”

Why we need to be more inclusive than ever in our daily life

After a General Election the one thing you can guarantee is knee-jerk reaction and hysterical responses by supporters of whichever parties lost.

And so we have seen following the surprise Conservative victory in the 2015 General Election.

None more so than the assertion by philosopher Rebecca Roache that Labour supporters should unfriend any Tory friends on social media.

Quite aside from the sweeping generalisations about people who support the Conservative party, Ms Roache’s suggestion will only serve to cement the problem that existed on social throughout the whole election campaign: namely that we surround ourselves with people who think the same as we do.

The shock to many (in which I include myself) on Friday was that we couldn’t believe anyone could vote any differently to us.

And here is where we fall into Nigel Farage’s oft-quoted ‘liberal metropolitan elite’. We don’t hear the opposing voices, or at least we dismiss them.

What we all – no matter of your political leaning – need to do is to spend more time listening to each other and understanding our concerns, hopes and fears.

We need to debate and discuss and talk through what each other thinks. Let’s actively seek out those with differing views.

Each of us may not manage to persuade the other to change opinions, but at least we’ll be less surprised by the outcome.

Why aren’t we allowed to ‘delete’ any more?

DeleteThere’s a new class of apps available to business professionals, allowing us to delete emails and other electronic media for good, rather than archiving them forever.

It’s an interesting concept; the ubiquitous nature of social media means that any inappropriate or unintentional communication can be beamed around the world in the blink of an eye, potentially ruining a company and a person’s career for good.

The ability for us to expunge those mistakes would seem to be a good thing. And for many a blessed relief. But there are those who would wish that people who’ve made a mistake should never recover.

Forget wearing a hairshirt for a couple of weeks, months or years – once you’ve committed that ‘sin’, that’s it, as Jon Ronson discovers as part of his article in The Guardian.

Unconscious mind

Most people – especially those in positions of responsibility – aspire to high standards and for the most part adhere to them. Continue reading “Why aren’t we allowed to ‘delete’ any more?”