Conversation (noun; feminine; plural: conversations)
- A conversation you have with someone else.
- An internal dialogue you have with yourself about the information and impressions you receive.
- All external and internal influences combined, creating an overarching dialogue: the conversation you live in.
From the very start of the day, you’re connected to the rest of the world. In other words, you spend the entire day engaged in one big conversation. Input comes in from what you read, listen to, hear, and see. That input sparks an internal dialogue with yourself and, in many cases, an external conversation with others—whether in person or online.
After showering and getting dressed, you quickly grab breakfast in the kitchen. The radio is on, and there might be some energetic kids running around. You chat with your partner about the day’s plans, the news story you just read in the FD, or an article you just saw pop up on social media. Even before you get in the car to drive to work, you’ve already taken in a huge amount of mental input.
Keep in mind that all of this input comes together to form an overarching conversation. It shapes how you see the world and how you think life works. Long before you head off to work, the conversation you’re living in is already in full swing, and it probably won’t slow down until just before you go to bed.
Clicks and likes
Your life is one big conversation. And this conversation determines the opportunities you see and are able to seize. All day long, we’re in conversation with the world around us—and with ourselves about the world around us. What you probably don’t realize is just how decisive this conversation is.
Through all kinds of apps, we’re connected to our personal world all day long. These apps are filled with information curated specifically for us—containing both truths and falsehoods. We talk to the people we live and work with. These people share their opinions on everything throughout the day. Opinions that are sometimes well-founded, but very often are not. In many places, the radio and television are on, and even if you don’t follow the news, you still pick up on what the media wants to show you of the world. And the media isn’t designed to provide an honest picture. The media is a game that revolves around clicks, likes, and followers. So it’s totally unreliable to blindly accept information from it.
Which conversation are you joining?
People sometimes say that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. These days, you could argue that you are the average of those five people plus the media channels you engage with most frequently. An important question to ask yourself regularly is: what kind of information am I taking in throughout the day?
If you have the courage to take an honest and critical look at yourself, try answering the following questions and observe your own responses as openly as possible. Your answers will reveal the kind of conversation you’re entering the moment you turn off airplane mode on your phone in the morning.
- What kind of people do I talk to the most?
- With whom do I have the most digital contact?
- Which websites do I visit regularly?
- Which social media channels do I visit, and what kind of information do I see there?
- What am I watching on TV?
- What podcasts do I listen to?
- What kind of music do I listen to?
- What kind of books do I read?
- Who should I follow?
- Who or what am I studying?