ALEX TURNER is the general manager of financial training firm Ambitious Minds
THE internet is often described as a force for democracy, and, while the jury is still out on that, it is clear that it does treat everyone democratically. Everyone’s stupidity is recorded for posterity.
The gun-toting thugs who found their Facebook photos being reproduced in the Liverpool Echo were just as guilty of e-gregious behaviour as the unidentified person responsible for the job description that appeared on the website of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen hospitals which referred to “the usual rubbish about equal opportunities”.
The world of sport, so rarely a beacon of good working practice, rushed in with its contribution, an email from the account of Manchester City’s chief executive, Garry Cook (who denies sending it), that mocked the cancer suffered by Dr Anthonia Onuoha, the mother and agent of one of their players, Nedum Onuoha. But the hand of fate – or, more accurately, a mistaken or malevolent hand – instead sent it on to Dr Onuoha.
Just as with last month’s outbreak of rioting, these outbreaks of dim-wittedness are not the creation of the internet age. Instead, they prove the logical fallacy of the phrase, post hoc ergo propter hoc – after this, therefore because of this.
Technology gets the blame, usually unfairly, for a lot of human faults. The faults have always been there, but now we use methods which record our missteps and misjudgments for posterity and publicity.
Speaking at TED Global in July, sound expert Julian Treasure blamed technology for people’s inability to listen, as people learnt to rely first on the written word, and now on audio and video recordings. He said: “The premium on accurate and careful listening has simply disappeared”.
Quantity has replaced quality as we have ushered in the age of slapdash.
This needs to be a major concern for businesses. Not just because people refuse to pause and reflect, or just re-read, before pressing the send button – although this brings with it its own worries – but also because this approach infects other areas of work. We should brace ourselves for more, not fewer, outbreaks of online stupidity as this attitude pervades the workplace.
Just as long as it continues to happen in other people’s companies, there’s nothing to worry about. Is there?
