ClydeStyle

Tag: cognitive

  • Scariest phrase: The past is of no consequence

    Do you ever think what it would be like to live without consequences? I mean, of course, there are always consequences, but we have a history of weighing the consequences and making the decision based on what we can handle or how much we have to pay.

    Former heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, loved cars and loved to drive fast. One time, on a back road, he is caught speeding by an officer. The officer charged him $25 for the speeding ticket, which was huge back then. Johnson gave the officer $50, and the officer said he did not have change. Johnson said it was ok because he has to drive back this way.

    Clearly, he weighed the consequences and accepted his fate, which led him to pay in advance.

    Everyone seems to do that with concrete things, but what about abstract?

    If I say something to hurt my wife’s feelings and I can tell that I did based on her actions, I could just apologize, or I can simply trust that she will get over it and move on.

    If my 5 year old grandbaby gets caught playing with the electrical outlet and I slap her hands and yell at her until she cries, I could feel justified in what I did because she could have seriously gotten hurt. But I see that my actions were more than just disciplinary in nature, as her ego is bruised. Do I attempt to recover her or stand as the authority?

    What if I’m the boss over 40 employees at work and I create a hostile work environment? Or, I create racial tensions by paying my white employees 37 percent more than minorities? What if I decide to make all my supervisors white? What if I never lay off anyone white? Or how about I just treat everyone badly because I can? What if I allow my bias to lead me? What if I am demeaning to women in the workplace?

    The past has no consequences, which is one of the greatest lies ever told. Offenders must recompense their victims. But before that happens, there has to be an acknowledgment of the wrongdoing. You can’t curse your wife, and then the next time you see her, you just start talking sweet to her without acknowledging your past mistakes.

    When we don’t acknowledge our wrongdoing, we lower the victims self-esteem. God takes that personal.

    Let me be clear: There are always consequences! Whether you get them immediately or later, now or in the future, today or in the afterlife, consequences are coming! Make amends today before it’s too late.

  • You are what you watch

    By the end of the 40s, America was embracing the latest technological advancement in the medium of television. It was a huge deal, especially  when it was made available for the “common man” and there was a TV in every house.

    Immediately, studies were conducted on the effects of watching too much TV and the results were astonishing: Watching too much TV will have negative effects on your physical and mental health, including obesity, sleep problems, and depression. It can also lead to a sedentary lifestyle and impaired social skills.

    But, according to current research, social media tends to have a more significant negative impact on mental health compared to simply watching TV; this is primarily due to the social comparison features, constant notifications, and potential for cyberbullying present on social media platforms, which can contribute to feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, especially among young people. 

    For example, it is very easy to have compassion for an isolated incident. You are driving down the road and there is a bad accident. Someone is thrown from a car as a result of the crash. A normal person will have compassion instantly. One may stop and try to help, another may pray, and still another my call 911.

    I wonder how many people will question whether the injured person was a criminal? Who would want to know whether the injured cheats on their partner?

    Where does the judgment come from? This is the social media effect because in the course of a day, you might witness a horrible crash once in 10 to 20 years. In a single day of watching reels and shorts on social media, you could potentially see more than 10. Moreover, you will see a ton of fights, a ton of disagreements, horrible decision-making, and other negative scenarios.

    These images overload your brain, and you lose the cognitive ability to be empathetic. You stop caring and move to a judgmental position where you play God and decide whether to care about or blame the participants.

    Remember the outrage on social media after the insurance CEO was gunned down in New York? Social media played a huge role in this because, like TV watching, we are corrupting our souls by the filth we constantly pour through our eyes.

    A.I. will be worse.