All of us, as, humans, naturally behave in a certain way when we view, hear, or otherwise experience something that changes our state of mind and feeling: to various degrees. This behaviour and speech are manifested in different forms. Some of us gasp at a shocking news article or collapse at the news of the death of a loved one, or we change our perception of somebody based on an action they performed and posted to the Internet.
Now you might think “But, Ahmad, this is common knowledge? Isn’t it?” Well, yeah. But what isn’t common is the high level of self-awareness when we undergo this “change”. It’s a change that we can control, but do we want to? And what are the consequences for when we don’t – both short-term and long-term?
Being an Internet surfer for over ten years, I’ve seen, read, and heard a lot – A LOT – of information, opinions, and facts. What I’ve also seen, read, and heard are these “changes” in behaviour and speech. They fall into two primary categories: responding and reacting. Both are fundamentally the same in what they are: say or do something as a reaction to something that has been said or done (as defined by Cambridge Dictionary). However, it’s the way they’re carried out that makes all the difference.
Responding is done in a decisive, rational, and calm manner. The speech or action taken is done in a way to deliver the intended result, but with ample time to think and formulate it in a structured way. If a talk show host would make a direct statement to an interviewee that the interviewee knew from their range of knowledge to be incorrect, they’d simply wait for the host to finish talking, pause for a few seconds, and then deliver a lengthy, calculated response that gives rational points to either counteract a statement (as part of debating), or clarify it. Often, more information is gathered to determine where the host’s thought process started or was leading towards, in an effort to better understand why they said what they said.
Reacting, on the other hand, is done on impulse. There is little to no thinking. Often afterwards a reactor might believe that they’ve thought it through, but they haven’t. Reactions are done quickly, with little to no constructive thought process and have a short, snappy formula. They’re fueled purely by strong emotion, often negative emotion, and hurriedly carried out in a forceful manner. People who react very often shout, reprimand, and curse. In some cases, there is a level of thinking, such as a bully who pauses to get more derogative words to strike the victim with.
In any case, reacting is not a good change of behavior. It leads to bad decisions that can have long-lasting results, it prevents rational thinking and thereby stops calm, collected structure of that behavioral and/or vocal change.
Many of us fail to realize how damaging reactions can be.
We might not be able to save someone in a critical situation because we’re screaming in horror or crying too much.
We might drive someone to self-harm or depression because we launched a tirade of hate at them due to a social media post we saw of them (which we hadn’t even been verified to be fake or not beforehand).
We may think we’re doing things “for the greater good of the people” by joining movements and hashtag trends when we have very limited knowledge of an entire situation to begin with – and might possibly end up acting very vile, immoral, and indecent, or worse, outright committing crimes without realizing it.
Millions of bits of information are coming at us every minute of our Internet-filled lives. Social media gives us the incredible power to let everyone have a say in this information. But how much do we know about what we’re talking about? Is it logical to just angrily make remarks and statements without the due diligence of research (and in the case of conversation, listening attentively with an open mind)?
When you respond, you are taking the time and the diligence to be rational and use the best facts that you have to give your thoughts on something – a blog post like this one, a social media post, a news article, an online video, whichever. You take your time to make a constructive statement that gives off a positive aura and assists others in seeing another angle to approach the topic. You display a sense of open-mindedness, humility, and maturity. You avoid making assumptions and also avoid damaging mistakes.
Before initiating that “change”, just take a few minutes to calm your mind. Think, reflect, and put forth the best logical, factual response you can.
Let’s try to respond more and react less. We wil be more connected in a healthy, meaningful way as humans living together. Defining all this is important because it sets the starting step for everything that comes. None of the content I post (blogs, art, videos, whatever) will be of any meaning or value if those who view it do not have a proper mindset to begin with. So through gaining understanding of reacting vs responding which I’ve reminded you of, you’ll be able to see eye-to-eye with me and the stuff I do.
– Ahmad
P.S.: I’ll try to return to this topic later down the road with a Part II or something. I’m still trying to get used to writing formal articles/opinion pieces like this. This post is not perfect by any means, but still contains valid points.