Exposure vs Experience: Zombie Wrestling
Six Rapid Fire Questions for You:
What is Outer Space Like?
What is it like to ride in a Nuclear Submarine?
What is the scariest part of swimming in the ocean with sharks?
How does the skin of a Rhinoceros feel?
What is the most difficult thing about defusing a bomb?
When is the best time of day to wrestle a Zombie?
Stay with me.
Please.
I know you might be tempted to check Linked In, Facebook, or Instagram right now.
But hold on.
Yes, I know the above questions are mostly absurd.
The analytical part of you is probably saying, “What do I know about zombies?”
But the less rationale part of you probably has an opinion.
Not because you have ever met a zombie, or been in space, or defused a bomb.
The reason you have an opinion is though you’ve never had an experience with a zombie, because of technology you mostly likely have been exposed to one.
Or more than one.
Maybe even a horde.
In this rapidly expanding digital world, we are exposed to things that we have not experienced.
The challenge isn’t when we are talking about zombies in a Thriller video.
The problem comes when we are dealing with real people.
We make decisions and judgments based on a movie, a news clip, a television show, a social media post, about people that we have never met in real life.
And if we do meet them in real life, our fictional perception of the person can effectively blind us from seeing anything that would contradict it.
Our preconceived lie becomes more important than their present truth.
Said another way our digital exposure to humans different than us from afar, can inoculate us from authentic human experiences up close.
To become cultural intelligent people and organizations, we must fully take advantage of the opportunities that technology provides while being conscious of what is beyond its grasp.
There is no substitute for real time connection, with real people, in the real world.
Even Zombies know that.