1/ Complex thinking—being able to hold multiple causes & effects simultaneously all as real & important—is still in minority, developmentally speaking. Making matters worse, our system 1 brain is always simple (bc fast), & we have to slow down to engage system 2 for complexity.
2/ Now, this is important: Twitter relishes, & is built upon, a system 1 cognitive syntax... snappy and instinctual, identity-reinforcing feedbacks.
*This is why social media distorts our lifeworld* through accelerated feedbacks of noisy, non-real signals.
*This is why social media distorts our lifeworld* through accelerated feedbacks of noisy, non-real signals.
3/ Much of my tweeting is nothing but trying to counteract this; like a janitor, I try to clean the mental bathroom where I can, reminding people the graffiti they see on the bathroom wall isn’t reality.
4/ You’re right we lose good sensemaking, esp when we’re in certain *states*, like under threat! This state’s a literal breeding ground for system 1 thinking: fast, adrenaline-amplified, detecting minute changes by the microsecond.
The entire US is a system 1 society right now.
The entire US is a system 1 society right now.
