logorrhea: excessive talkativeness.

What comes to mind when pondering about a word like logorrhea (which sounds a lot like diarrhea, as it shares the same Greek word root: ‘rhein’ – to flow – in one case, the words flow, in others… well, you know ) is the excessive flow of words society is confronted with on a daily basis these times. With the invention of interactive media, the amount of information produced (and likewise consumed) has topped every peak known until then – everyone is now broadcasting his or her opinion and the sheer amount of information has already reached an epidemic state. My blog is no exception from the rule – I, too, am merely a single soul broadcasting its message out to the world.

Interactive Media – Gift or Curse?

It would be wrong to label interactive media as a plain bad thing. Prior to interactive media (published by internet services), classical media like television and print media was the only source of information a person could get – and these sources of information always represent an underlying opinion which render them subjective instead of the objective information most individuals are in search for when looking up a topic. While internet content is also far from being objective, the range of information sources and thereby perspectives represented is significantly broader. There is much more information that could potentially be true and overheard voices too have their share in the broadcast – an advantage that is too relevant to be omitted.

Still, the masses of information are a challenge for the consumer. Even if the internet offers the possibility to look for information on-demand, the average internet user has a hard time avoiding push content (meaning content that is offered deliberately, like a host of articles on a webmail page) and limit the consumption to pull content (meaning content that is offered only by demand). By this logic, surfing the web confronts the individual with so much information that it is hard to choose what to read – nearly everyone will have found themselves reading something they weren’t looking for initially by chance – and got hung up in the process.

The second hurdle to take – after selecting the information itself – is to evaluate the quality of content. Since everyone is entitled to publish content without anyone checking validity, the recipient himself is responsible for checking it. In the internet age, it has become vitally important to have a good sense of differentiation. Authors always have an intention when writing an article – they always transport their views with their writing, this is normal human behavior. Consuming media, one always has to think about what intention it follows and have to think over statements that are presented as facts constantly. This requires a log of energy but is the only possible solution not to become lulled in by tricky writers.

As a rule of thumb, always double-check statements that sound too good to be true and watch out for relativity, when it comes to figures, statistics and comparisons.

I will take this Twitter tweet from Steve Pavlina as an example, because I feel that it is representative:

An average American eats as much meat in one day as an average Indian eats in about a month.

This is a statement and it is true by itself. Still it does not take a few things into consideration

• India is amongst the poorest countries of the world. Meat is an expensive food. Most Indians struggle to survive on cheap foods like grains and legumes – meat is just out of consideration.
• According to Wikipedia, up to 40% of all Indians are vegetarians – in the US, only 2.8% of the population are.
• Considering daily caloric intake, no nation consumes more calories daily than Americans do.

Conclusion: After taking these variables into consideration, the figure would still show that Americans eat more meat than Indians, but the extreme margin would be cut down in magnitude.

This is only one example how figures can be altered to cause a specific effect (in this case, Steve Pavlina, who is a strong raw vegan proponent, wanted to point out the meat consumption madness of the United States) – watch out for figures in future information you absorb!

Is Constant Talking a Sign of Wisdom?

An ancient saying goes like this:

Those who know much talk little. Those who talk all the time know nothing.

In modern society, this holds true oh so much. You will find these people everywhere that simply do not seem to stop talking. They may not notice it, but all they do is constantly boasting their ego in public – by talking to a broad audience about what they have achieved and how they did it without a pause. Most people have done this at some point in their life, but it normally is an acute state, not a chronic one.

People who act like this are normally poor listeners. They are too occupied with themselves and their thoughts to fully perceive what they are told. By this reason, conversations with this kind of person often are unidirectional – as opposed to what conversations should be like: bidirectional, with equal shares in giving and receiving. These people often have the tendency to gather weaker minds than themselves around them – and constantly make them applaud or at least approve what they have to tell. They have little interest in real growth-oriented contacts – too deep is the fog of delusion they are caught in.

At the other end of the scales you will find the people that are widely regarded as wise men or saints. These are the people that rarely talk a lot. Sure, they will tell you about their past experiences in length when asked to do so, but they will never do so deliberately. They will rather listen to what you have to tell them and answer in short but right words – never will you see them using more words than necessary. It is the determination to fully understand the other part of a conversation that drives them to be a excellent company – better listeners are found nowhere. Normally, people tend to grow in this direction when becoming older and slow their pace for effort, but there are numerous young spirits, bursting with energy, that have proven to have this skill as well. Be on the lookout for these individuals – meeting them will probably a life-changing even for you.

Final Thoughts

As a final note, I want to suggest to you that you wield the power of your mind consciously. Choose only information that is of use for you and never take a word for granted. Always investigate on your own before accepting conventional wisdom. If necessary, experiment to discover truth. Be careful with your words. Stop the talk for once and try to listen as openly as possible. Be of excellent service to others. Discover for yourself – the wisdom of silence.

In love for life
Simon

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