Binary Thinking

Students often ask for the right way to perform certain tasks or note that I am wrong because the book mentions a different approach. Students are not the only one partial to this way of thinking, most of us favour this approach in many ways. Something is either right or wrong, 0 or 1. However, our world isn’t digital, it is analog.

Wrong and right are both extremes on an analog scale which, depending on the situation, has a lot of space in between. Sure, a test question could be either right or wrong, however, it could also be a certain amount of points (a degree of right or wrong). This is no different outside of education. You might not agree with others, but we should always consider the option that their way of thinking isn’t completely wrong. Depending on the situation you should determine the appropriate amount of nuance needed on this scale of right or wrong.

This way of analog thinking might be a bit harder than a binary approach, but it could save us so many unnecessary conflicts.

During the last decade binary thinking has found a more prominent role in our lives through the rise of social media and its related cognitive dissonance. We are often invited to like it or, well, not like it? Thinking about it, this is quite strange. Why are we only invited to respond if we like it and not if we dislike? Deep inside, do we really feel this is how our life should be?

Even though the use of social media has become a mayor point of interest over the last months we still don’t know what the future will bring.

No matter what we should remember; Our world is analog, not digital.