Exploring the Social Imagination

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Who is Responsible for Your Bad Choices in the Social Imagination?

 


Research has shown that the typical person makes about 2,000 decisions every waking hour. Yes, folks you read it right… every waking hour. And, thankfully, most decisions are minor and we make them instinctively or automatically — what to wear to work in the morning, whether to eat lunch now or in ten minutes, etc.

But many of the decisions we make throughout the day take real thought, and have serious consequences. Consistently making good decisions is arguably the most important habit we can develop; and especially in regards to eating right, exercising, education, and investments.

Our choices affect our health, our safety, our relationships, how we spend our time, and our overall well-being which includes our future well-being as in our down the road years from now social stability…social connections, money, housing and food not to mention investment in long term relationships.

When you have to make an important decision, be on the lookout for a steady state of distractions that come from social media misinformation, corrupt politics and market turmoil.

And, be mindful of emotions that cling tend to like old sweatshirts or sneakers.  Whether they are learned over time or just picked up from a recent bad experience, you have to be mindful that frustration, excitement, anger, joy, etc., are all a fundamental part of the daily human experience and they impact our decisions making/choices dramatically.

And while these emotions may or may not have a meaningful role in our lives, you probably don’t need to see the research to know that emotions, especially during moments of peak anger and happiness, can hinder our ability to make good decisions/choices.

Deciding to speak or send an email while angry often compounds a tough situation, because the words don’t come out right. To counter this, pay attention to your emotional state and focus on the character strength of self-control.

Resist the temptation to respond to people or make decisions while you’re emotionally keyed up. Practice walking away from the computer or putting the phone down, and return to the task at hand when you’re able to think more clearly and calmly.

The decisions we make determine our reality. Because, we live in a social reality, in the social imagination. So, our decisions directly impact how we spend our time and what information we process (or ignore). Our decisions shape our relationships  and increasingly in today’s hyper-connected world, decisions contribute to our energy level and how efficient we are in the various aspects of our lives; especially financial.

[Most of the above was taken from this online site ~ https://hbr.org/2019/08/6-reasons-we-make-bad-decisions-and-what-to-do-about-them]

Did you know that there is an experience called situational poverty. Yes, that comes from making bad decisions but some people like to think it’s just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sociologist Herbert Gans wrote a piece decade ago about how the poor are coming and going. And, he was/is right. This can happen to you and it may or may not be directly correlated with a bad decision on your part but most often that is the case.

For instance, getting a divorce can really set you back. Or being made redundant at work as in ‘let go’ only because your company just merged with another and they just so happen to have their own people hand picked for your job.

Next, a sudden illness or an accident can ruin you financially; and, even if its not you that was suddenly struck down, it could happen to someone you love. It may or may not have been due to a bad decision on your part but maybe on theirs. Or maybe the bad decision or choice was made by a stranger... causing you physical harm or financial ruin... you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, right?

So, who pays? Sure, you can do a ‘go fund me’ with the hopes of getting back what you lost or paying off a medical debt. Or maybe you want the government to take that burden on… and just in case you didn’t know it but that means taxes for you and me.

Sure, there are orgs out there to assist people. In fact, you could start an organization to assist people because you either want to virtual signal or because you went through a similar circumstance yourself and so feel inclined to help others. And, that can be a good thing but at the end of the day what does it teach others about making bad decisions. Is it like feeding the bears? Could be.

Shouldn’t people get an education that helps them to navigate the world so that they make good decisions? We’d like to think so… but, these days who pays attention to what is good for them, who reads the signs?

[Most of the above was taken from this online site ~ https://people.eou.edu/socprob/readings/week-1/social-problems-thinking-about-who-benefits/]

And, the best parts of the above were written by me ;-) just sayin 

1 comment :

  1. What's a bad decision? Listening to mainstream media who want to tell you what's good for you when they have no clue. What's a bad decision? Deciding to allow someone to harm your body just because they are in government, are called some kind of expert and use marketing strategies to convince you that they won't hurt you.

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