bradshreffAfter I asked him to be on my show (Episode 19), Derek Rhodenizer asked me to be on his show, A Word In Progress. This show is all about talking in absurd detail about specific words that educators throw around, but often we don’t have a solid definition of what those words really mean. Ultimately, Derek’s goal is to write a book about education, in which he takes a philosophical approach to the field.
The week before I was on his show, Derek talked about the word “connection.” He asked on twitter what our definitions of connection were, and after reading some of the conversation, I asked if people thought that connection had to be a two way street. For example, can I be connected to someone who doesn’t even know I exist?
In the episode before I was on (with guest Peter Cameron), they decided that connection by nature required reciprocation, ultimately arguing that without a recognition by both people, it is simply an impact. My belief is quite the opposite. I feel that I can, and am, connected to people who do not know me. My immediate example is podcasters.
I listen to a lot of podcasts. One of them is the show This Week in Tech (also known as TWiT). I’ve been listening to TWiT regularly since 2005. The host of that show, Leo Laporte has built a connection with me for two hours a week for over 10 years. He doesn’t know that, doesn’t know who I am (though I did actually get to meet him in 2016 and it was awesome!). However, I am certainly connected to him, as I have bought products because he endorses them, listen to his show each week because I trust him, and drove over an hour out of my way while I was on vacation just to meet him.
What I ultimately stated in the episode is that I believe connection falls on a continuum. On one end of the spectrum is interaction. For this, I think about the bagger at my grocery store. While I appreciate them taking time to bag my groceries, especially when they do it in the right order and my eggs aren’t broken, I wouldn’t say I have a connection with them, since they have very little impact.
As soon as one party in that interaction is impacted in a meaningful way by the other, that has raised itself to a connection. Once both parties are impacted, you have a relationship.
I also liked the phone charger analogy someone made. When a phone is connected to a charger, the charger gets nothing from the phone, but the phone is re-energized and ready to start doing its job again. This is not a two-way connection, but a connection nonetheless in my book.
If you’d like to hear more about this topic, or are just looking for a great show to listen to, checkout this, or any, episode of A Word In Progress with Derek Rhodenizer.