What Did I Miss?

My last tweet was April 29th. Well, the last one you probably saw, because I did respond to one person who tweets mainly about baseball and hockey. He's also our local Single A baseball team radio announcer, you likely don't follow him.

Anyway.

I took part in a conversation that I found really interesting. It was also full of assumptions. So, I did what I did in grad school: I challenged those assumptions.

I treat Twitter like a giant grad school class. I respect you as a person, I probably follow you for a reason or follow a conversation for a reason, and if you're participating it's probably also for a reason. So, if I disagree with someone in a conversation, it's likely that I don't actually disagree with the person. I probably disagree with their opinion/answer/tweet. I might even agree with whatever was said, but I'm trying to poke holes into it so I can learn more about it. I like to consider things in their entirety, and I believe that your idea should be able to stand on its own merit in the arena.

I learned a lesson about myself long ago: I don't handle foolish arguments well. I saw the trap I had fallen into in this specific situation. I caught onto the false arguments and assumptions. And I continued trying to understand. And then I remembered that lesson I learned long ago: this argument is foolish and you've become trapped.

But beyond that lesson, I realized that some things aren't worth learning. They're not worth questioning. Not worth the frustration of trying to understand. But I had already spent that energy.

I also learned that other people don't treat Twitter like grad school. They treat it like a high school cafeteria. There are cool kids, and smart kids, and teacher pets, and those you go to for advice. But the physical space is one about judgement and about being right. Not about being authentic, not about learning, not about becoming part of something bigger. It's about "us" versus "them".

What have I been doing besides Twitter? I've hosted four work events, planned for Orientation, listened to a lot of TED Radio Hour (and I've learned a ton), worked around my house, played with the dog. I also missed sharing knowledge, great TEDtalks, interesting articles, and the snarky bits of my life. You know what I haven't missed? The frustration and the energy drain.

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