Kids Get This, Why Don't We?

Okay, so my 9 year old doesn't recognize and apply the folowing reality ALL the time, otherwise his feelings would be hurt far less often.

But for a school project he needed to ask us for information about his birth. Holly said, "Well you were a really cute baby."

He smiled and scolded her, "Mooom, that's an opinion, not information."

Now why do us adults on the internet seem to have so much trouble distinguishing between those two things?

LOL. I'm sure you were a cute baby, too, Paeter. /grouphug

WhiteBoy wrote:LOL.  I'm sure you were a cute baby, too, Paeter.  /grouphug  

Oh, I'm positive I was. ;-)

But I was focusing on his ability to recognize the difference between information and opinion, which us adults on the internet seem to have trouble with.

Top 10 opinions on why Logan was utter rubbish: number 4 shocked me!
In my opinion, this is the worst phishing scheme ever!
Could your health be at risk? My opinion HERE
Ewan MacGregor's outfit didn't do it for me.

We discount opinion. "What does your opinion mean to me? I don't care what you think."
Would you follow any of the above link bait?
I wouldn't...well, maybe *maybe* the Logan one... but put them into an affirmative:

Top 10 reasons Logan sucked: number 4 will blow your mind.
You are at risk from latest phishing scheme!
You are going to die this year: we'll tell you why and how to avoid it.
Ewan MacGregor: worst dressed at Oscars!

IN MY OPINION, we are seeing the results of sensationalized ...well, everything, really. But why is everything sensationalized? I believe (opinion) that it is due to an oversaturation of information. I scroll through hundreds of Facebook posts a day (fact) and click on just a few (slight underestimate). If someone wants to get my "click" they need to get me to believe that it is important for me to do so. ...and it is even worse on a news site.
I believe, opinion again, that we have subconsciously adopted that form of media manipulation into our social infrastructure. I opine that, in an effort to exert our personal control of a situation, we perpetuate the ambiguity of fact and fiction.

...however...
I have heard it said that beauty (of faces) can be mathematically measured, mostly dealing with symmetry. So... perhaps your 9 year old was, indeed, factually "cute".

mikel.withers wrote:

IN MY OPINION, we are seeing the results of sensationalized ...well, everything, really. But why is everything sensationalized? I believe (opinion) that it is due to an oversaturation of information. I scroll through hundreds of Facebook posts a day (fact) and click on just a few (slight underestimate). If someone wants to get my "click" they need to get me to believe that it is important for me to do so. ...and it is even worse on a news site.

And I have to confess major guilt of this myself. A year or so ago I became more aware of it and have tried to change my "review language" as a result. But if you look back at my earlier youtube titles or dig back into older podcast/blog stuff, I was definitely on board with the use of strongly objective language in the expression of opinions.

In fact, I keep waiting for the right timing, but for about a year I've been thinking of doing an In Search Of Truth segment specifically about our use of words and how we unknowingly turn people off from us and shut down lines of communication because of our choices in words and tone while expressing opinions.

Mike, you hit the nail on the head (opinion).

I think this is a problem that is very common in the internet age. I'm sure we've all been guilty of it at times.
Well done Paeter, for raising a son with maturity beyond his years.

dagnabbit. I fell for the clickbait.

Paeter wrote:which us adults on the internet seem to have trouble with.

is that information or just your opinion?

AdamCollings wrote:
Well done Paeter, for raising a son with maturity beyond his years.

Thanks, but actually I think that's just vocab he picked up from school. His school emphasizes not just teaching kids but creating a love for learning in them, so I think some of those critical thinking skills are being taught in class. Which is awesome, of course.

So we chose the school for him, and that's a big part of the reason why, but I can't take credit for helping him distinguish between those words.

Rickster wrote:

Paeter wrote:which us adults on the internet seem to have trouble with.

is that information or just your opinion?

Good catch! That sentence is missing a "to me" after the word "seem".