We ask this question often. You can fill in the ending. Whatever your topic, the dangers are still the same. Only for the person asking the question.
Surprisingly, the way you ask the question is not where the danger lies. It’s more about who you ask to answer the question and how do you think you will benefit by hearing their answer.
Too many times, we ask this question of “what do you think about…” without ever considering whether they have any experience with the topic or enough knowledge to explain more about the topic being asked.
Without ever thinking about who we ask this question to, we run to friends or family. Always willing to listen. Most times very empathetic and caring. But many times having little experience with what you are uncertain, troubled, or confused about.
The other danger is what do we expect to do with their answer? Do we ask the queston to make us feel good by having them agree with our thinking? Blindly moving on? Or are we looking for a different way of looking at things to find other options as well as more pitfalls in the way we think we will choose to act?
Opinions have become common in our lives. Partly because we choose to share so much more of what we do, like and what bothers us on social media. Texting and emails, both one way communication, subconcsiously inflate the imputed value not only our points of view but the other person’s point of view as well in our minds. As if any point of view is solid, well structured and unbiased. When they very well may not be.
The strength of a point of view always changes depending on context, constraints, and resources you have available now. Making it much harder to embrace with confidence that it will succeed. Magnifying the danger of accepting another person’s answer to your question blindy.
Everything comes back to us in the end. Making it necessary to better understand the dangers we expose ourselves to every time we ask the question “what do you think about….”?