Dear Cain,
Your article “The Rise of the New Groupthink” really made me
think about collaboration in groups.
The number one concern when working in groups is that instead of
bouncing ideas off of one another, the group as a whole comes to an uninformed
decision because there is no need for individual creativity involved. Personally, I have been guilty of
groupthink in the past because it can be easier to go along with the popular
opinion than think of something that is better or more creative than what everyone
has already agreed to. In fact,
when you are in a group you may not even have to think.
However, Shirky’s article “Personal Motivation Meets
Collaborative Production” talks about how collaboration can be a great idea if
done properly. Shirky brings up
the popular Wikipedia as an example, which shows how collaboration can be
effective. I believe that Wiki is
a great invention, although there are some setbacks. Some may say that the information is not reliable because of
false information that is put on there, which is another downfall that comes
with collaboration. You cannot
trust just anyone, and even more so in an online environment.
This leads me to Keen’s “The Great Seduction” where he
address the same type of concern with false information. People can feed into whatever the media
throws at them, and this can be unsafe because there is no one to officially filter
what is truth and what isn’t. Believing
and trusting in other people’s information (which may or may not be true) leaves
us vulnerable and unsure.
I think the only way to counteract groupthink is to practice
being aware of your surroundings and question everything. I think people should always stop to
ask themselves if what they see or hear seems real, or if it can be fabricated
content that they are subconsciously buying into so they don’t have to think
for themselves.
Sincerely,
Connie Zhen
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