Are we listening too much to others?
I always wonder, nowadays we can easily get the info we want anywhere, anytime and EASILY. Just go to Google and you can easily find anything! This is very useful for us because it helps us to gain more knowledge, learn more stuff, do more things, connect with more people.
But also it makes us listen too much to others.
- When we want to know about local news, we go to CNN, BBC or The Star (for Malaysia).
- When we want to find nice food to eat, we go search for food reviews.
- When we want to go for vacation, we Google for the interesting places in the world (within our budget).
- When we want to solve a problem, we Google for it and get the top 5 articles in the search result.
- And for some people, when there’s a problem they don’t know how to do, they go to YouTube (I actually have a friend who went to YouTube to learn how to fold clothes! Oh, and he ended up making a big mess).
..and others, just to name a few.
As a matter of fact, the amount of information that we get everyday is just enormous and I believe it has reached a stage that filtering the information becomes more tedious than receiving the information. Thus, we turn to the so-called professionals aka the media and the ‘expert reviewers’. We believe that they will do the proper filtering for us. After all, we do pay some of them for that!
Actually there’s nothing wrong with this but I do notice that as time goes by, these individuals might end up having a louder voice within us than our own voice. We become indecisive. We believe most of the things THEY say, right or wrong. Or when there’s only one solution in Google for the question we asked, we believe that should be the right one (especially if there are some idiots who claimed the solution is genuine without trying it). But is it really the right one?
Perhaps it’s time to really think about such things (I know some of you already do. So this is aimed at people who rather go with the ‘flow’). Forget about all the press, news, articles, reviews or even commercials. They are there to HELP you in making decision, not making the decision for you. Ask yourselves, what is it that you really want? You want to buy a car? Do you really think you need it? Do you have the money? Will you die without buying it? What about that game with superb review (sorry ya, I’m a video gamer), do you think you will really enjoy it? Can you imagine yourselves enjoying the game after reading the review? How long do you think it’s going to last you? Can’t you wait for 6 months and get from the secondary market?
Ask more questions! Fill up some blanks with those reviews, articles, etc but the final decision should come from you. Stop listening too much to others and start listening to yourselves.
p/s……. few years ago, all my friends told me to give up on a girl. But my heart told me to go on. The end result was not what I wanted but I have no regret at all. Because if I’ve listened to others, the issue might still be unresolved until now.
p/s…….. also, remember that listening is not a bad thing but listening without filtering is.
damn ! ..i better stop visiting blog.alvinlim.info
i don’t want his views to take control of me !
LOL . jk mate .
didn’t notice it
good post bro
no wonder internet marketing is so important
gapnap´s last blog ..Andy Timmons Clinic Tour
gapnap
19 Jun 09 at 9:56 pm
@ gapnap
It’s too late…you’ve already joined the dark side >:)
Actually, most people don’t think for themselves or they’re just lazy to make decisions. That’s why the world is not just about consumer and creator anymore….we have another role called moderator (er…mixture of both creator n consumer).
For people who think a lot like us…i think the moderators are there to help us and not decide for us
Alvin Lim
19 Jun 09 at 10:14 pm
We’re all afraid to make a wrong decision, that’s why we’re getting inputs from others?
Moderator huh? Sounds good…
ChampDog
21 Jun 09 at 11:35 am
@ ChampDog
Yes, everyone is afraid to make the wrong decision. So we follow others. At least, if we do screw up, there are tonnes of people with us
Alvin Lim
21 Jun 09 at 3:48 pm
Hahaha… that’s a good one!
ChampDog
21 Jun 09 at 6:19 pm
@ ChampDog
haha, but it surely is not a good kind of mentality to have.
Alvin Lim
21 Jun 09 at 8:18 pm
The media is only a tool to help us make a better decisions and give us information where we have no access to. Whether we want or not in the end is up to us.
Personally, I don’t think googling for a nice vacation or so is listening to the others. We just want an info, a head-up for our future planning. Besides, just imagine if there’s no googling and you just fly to some foreign countries for a vacation, you might just end up burning up your pockets because you know nuts about the country. Of course, i am not saying that everything the internet or the media says is always right. A lot of times it’s also influenced by self-preferences. But it certainly provides us with lotsa information to assist us in making the right decisions. As for your friends who went to Youtube to learn folding, he made a mess in the end not because he listened/watched somebody, he probably just didn’t master it right. I don’t think If he didn’t listen to it, he probably wouldn’t know how to start! Every loss is another step nearer to the success after all?
I still think it’s crucial to listen to third opinions. It’s extra knowledge. If you don’t look through all the reviews and hear what people say, the one who suffers the most loss might be you. Any type of loss costs a lot nowadays. =( Even though at the end of the day, it’s your heart that matters the most.
– c H i E n -´s last blog ..My Work Space
- c H i E n -
21 Jun 09 at 11:15 pm
@ chien
What you said is correct. And that is what I feel also. But i do feel that people are relying a little bit too much on those sources. For example, Youtube, how sure are you if that folding thingy is correct? It may be applicable to others but not to you. Also, how sure are you that news from CNN is 100% correct?
Even our The Star changes stories at times. My friend has experienced it and I too have experienced it. So don’t always believe in what you see and listen.
And also on the vacation thing, some of my friends went n followed some ‘tips’ and ended up totally disappointed because those tips are just not suitable for them.
Some may say that the ‘followers’ don’t follow properly. But I will say they follow too blindly.
But of course, without all these sources, there are plenty of information which we’re going to miss out. The important thing here is never to let ourselves listen too much to others. We must make our own judgment.
and that is exactly the message I want to deliver in my last 2 paragraphs.
Alvin Lim
22 Jun 09 at 7:12 am
I only take those resources from the net as a guideline. Haha!
And I know The Star newspaper isn’t reliable. It’s governed by the Government, they have to cover up lotsa stories as well. If no they can’t evens survive. Chinese papers are the best or else go for NST. Haha!
- c H i E n -
22 Jun 09 at 2:27 pm
@ chien
human beings are getting lazier each day and we’re leaving our thinking to the machines. 
yeap, some people don’t.
Alvin Lim
22 Jun 09 at 8:30 pm
Haha, information overload… I see it every day in my work.
Basically this is about how one’s life is influenced by the environment thru adverts, reviews, friends. I believe our behavior is conditioned by the environment, no question about it. The only thing is, to what degree.
Yes I agree, don’t believe everything you hear. However listening exclusively to ourselves can be tricky too. Example – we may decide to buy a Honda instead of a Toyota because after carefully studying the specs, we’re convinced that the Honda is better value for money. But guess what. We are still relying on specs that someone wrote and those specs may be misleading at worst or incomplete at best. Incomplete as in the car may be good technically but the after-sales service can be horrendous. Or sometimes, a promising new technology is defeated by a flaw that only appears years later.
So the only time we can believe in our own advice is when we’ve tried it and bought it for ourselves. All we need is the money and time to trial-and-error everything we want.
My conclusion: listening exclusively to ourselves or to an “expert” review won’t guarantee we’re avoiding a screw up. Sometimes we just have to filter the info with gut feel and hope for the best.
Damien Tan
23 Jun 09 at 11:10 am
@ Damien
Yea, balance is the key. For me, as long as we don’t push our own decision making to other people or let them think for us, then it’s fine. Also, we need to bear the consequences of our actions/decisions. It’s easy to blame that reviewer or that sales man or that blog, but at the end of the day, it is our own decision and nobody forces us to make such decision.
Alvin Lim
23 Jun 09 at 8:56 pm