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How email is making you stupid

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Do you think that if you were doing something that was lowering your intelligence you would stop doing it?

A good common sense track record?

Hmm, well the evidence suggests that we don’t necessarily follow that common sense thinking. We really need to ask ourselves questions like, “Do warning labels increase common sense?”

Firstly, it’s probably a good idea to review the definition of stupid. Stupid is defined as lacking intelligence or common sense. But the 18th Century French writer François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, wrote the very famous, “Common sense is not so common.” So does that mean we all exercise moments of stupidity; since that would be what is common?

Where did IQ come from?

Second, there are different types of intelligence. Most people are familiar with IQ (Intelligence Quotient) which was created by another Frenchman, Alfred Binet in the early 1900s, after the French government passed laws that all French children must attend school. Binet was asked to develop a tool that would help to identify students that were most likely to experience difficulty in schools so they could receive special assistance.

Shortly thereafter the test was brought to the United States. Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman standardized Binet’s test and administered it to American participants. The adapted test was published in 1916 and was called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and became the standard intelligence test used in the U.S.

There “is” more than IQ

how email is making us better with IQ and EQ

But Binet stressed the limitations of the test, stating that intelligence is more broad a concept to quantify.

In a recent article by Kate Everson, Chief Learning Officer associate editor, she analyzes a different aspect of intelligence in the Sony Pictures Entertainment hacking scandal.

She states that now the world has proof that even senior executives are in desperate need of a lesson on how to appropriately use online communication. Are the Sony Execs stupid? I think there is more to this.

Is email the reason for stupid?

I think Kate is really talking about the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) of Sony’s executives. In her story she mentions several Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Competencies that are not only lacking in the online communications of senior executives at Sony, but also in society as a whole.

She writes:

The internet makes it easier to talk faster and more frequently, but all of us become socially stupider with every click of the “send” button. Speed and quantity has replaced empathy and quality — and that’s after less than two decades of using email.

Kate poses the question as to if we can teach ourselves and employees how to be smarter and more thoughtful. The answer to that is, Yes, Kate. And the way is Emotional Intelligence (EQ). And EQ can be developed. Just as many have unlearned proper behavior, they can re-learn (even first learn) better emotionally intelligent behaviors.

Email is making everyone stupid

Everybody needs help improving their Emotional Intelligence, including me. Psychologist Frieda Birnbaum said, “The problem affects everyone, from Gens Y and Z to people in their 50s…” And over the past ten years a number of researchers have cataloged the way online communication is diminishing our basic human skills, from developing interpersonal relationships to reading social situations correctly.

What do you need to do?

There are five Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Competencies that those Sony Pictures Entertainment executives and you can focus on right now to stop the stupid common sense that is occurring with our with our online (and offline) communications.

These are:

  1. Compassion: understanding, caring about, and responding to the needs of others
  2. Impulse Control: recognizing emotional triggers as a signal to slow down, think before acting and choose a constructive response
  3. Insightfulness: seeing beyond the obvious and discerning the true nature of the situation or the hidden nature of things
  4. Mindfulness: focusing on the present moment and suspending both internal chatter and also external distractions to allow clarity and composure
  5. Perspective-Taking: considering various points of view or assumptions about a situation; seeking alternative options and choices

While this list is not all inclusive of every interaction you have it is a good place to begin getting smarter with your emails (and other communications). Don’t be common, be the welcomed difference.

So how do you make yourself the welcomed exception? Please share your comments below.

Additional Notes:

The post How email is making you stupid appeared first on Customer Experience Employee Engagement.


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