Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
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Notes -
I could be an outlier but I thought I learned a decent thing or two from the communication class I took in college, years ago. None of it still strongly translated into direct applicability that I could detect at work or in my personal life, but I did find it useful to apply elsewhere.
One thing I’ve noticed about the Bay Area is because of its population size, density, competitiveness, the quick and hurried nature of things, people here tend to communicate in a fast and concise, “give me only the cliff notes” version of everything. Some of this makes sense, other times it makes me very frustrated dealing with them.
When I walk into a drug store and need to ask the pharmacist about something or I look at the back of the package of an an allergy medication, I don’t want to have to have a Ph.D in biochemistry to evaluate your product to know whether it’s going to help with my illness or not. I’m completely happy to hand it off to the marketing department to speak the language of ordinary people and tell me why their product is valuable to address the symptoms I’m experiencing.
On the other hand when someone tries hitting me up to get my opinion on something and they keep cutting me off or telling me I’m over explaining things, they’ll then spend the next half an hour asking 45 follow up questions, like hitting a stoplight after every 2 seconds before hitting the gas again when if you simply shut up and let me finish for 2 damn minutes, maybe, just maybe… all your questions may end up getting addressed without you ever having to ask. Yes, I don’t like it when people drone on anymore than anyone else does, but so few people here have ever perfected the skill of listening, it can be very difficult at times. A lot of times I don’t even bother for that reason.
I’ve also detested those academics who say things like “if you can’t explain it in 5 seconds to a 5 year old, you don’t understand it.” Homie. There are concepts I haven’t been able to understand for my entire life. Same for you. And with so much of human interaction today being trained off social media feeds, I can’t even imagine how agonizing it must be to ask people to read a single page in a book.
I think choosing what and which communication to complete a task is more useful than an academic understanding. As a basic concept for people who would have never considered it as such it's probably good to cram it into the heads of all undergrads.
Follow-up questions as a KPI for active listening seems perfectly suited for the Bay Area. I wonder if this is an effect of moving away from lectures across education, or if it is more so an annoying compulsion because everyone asks AI or Google anything at any time. Who needs to listen to people with knowledge?
RE: Friday reference. I became concerned after learning they are making another. The new setting is in a gentrified neighborhood which could be funny, or it could be the old, out of touch leads are incapable of making a crass (B)lack comedy without the weight of heavy handed social commentary. One can hope it's only marketing.
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If you feel like being mean, ask them: "How long did your education take? That long, huh. Did your professors not understand the material, or are you worse at understanding things than a five-year-old?"
At best, a 5-second summary is a label that well-rounded individuals can use to find what you're talking about. At worse, it's a semantic stopsign that gets them to stop asking questions and fake understanding. It doesn't have enough information to explain anything with any complexity.
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