Private Universe

Socrates knew centuries ago that teaching involved guiding learners though their misconceptions. By methodically exploring and dispelling misconceptions, Socrates was able to help learners’ modify their defective mental modes. With social media, a modern day Socrates’ influence would extend far beyond Athens.

It is far easier to hold onto concepts that one has already worked to encode into long term memory than to go to the process of modifying or encoding new mental modes into long term memory. If I were not a ship captain or planning a long trip, in the middle ages, it would have been far easier to just believe that the earth was flat than to try to grasp the concept of living on a sphere. Social media makes it difficult to hold onto misconception because ones beliefs are constantly being challenged. The same concepts are stated over and over by different persons, some in more complexity or simplicity than others. The concepts can be examined in text, video or audio and more often than not linked for further explanation.  We all live in our own private universe, but it is a universe that being invaded by social media.