When is the last time you did not have to go to a specialist for a seemingly mundane physical condition? When you call tech support, does a local rep answer the phone or is it someone half a globe away? When you send your coffee maker or cell phone or Xbox in for repairs (even if you had the skills, the warranty makes it impossible for you to investigate the problem yourself) , does it go to Tassimo or BlackBerry or Microsoft or does it go to some tiny third party repair shop somewhere? When someone does show up at your house to do something, do they have all the tools and skills they need to do the job, or do they need to come back with the right kind of pipe or drill bit or post-hole digger? Was the original job merely sub-contracted out, possibly multiple times?
We are held hostage by our dependence on people with specialist knowledge we need or want. But we all tolerate it because we all do it. This over-specialization frees us to focus only on the things we like to do or are good at, after all. The outsourcing of "menial" skills saves money and we also get the psychological and legal benefits of not needing to take responsibility for anything outside of our purview.
Everything is (with a nod to the late Douglas Adams) “Somebody Else’s Problem”.
But, ironically, as more and more tasks are seen as “menial” and “not my job” it becomes more and more critical that we all know how to do these supposedly unimportant things. It is the classic “For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost” scenario.
As has been already mentioned, lack of intellectual diversity – skill focus at the cost of personal growth – is rewarded. This is dangerous in itself but we have moved even beyond that into an area where we (as a society) appear to actually depend on the fact that nobody actually knows how to do anything.
How so?
If a person were to widen their skillset voluntarily they would reduce their individual dependence on others by a small amount. Not only would they be slightly more able to deal with day-to-day problems but doors open to solve related issues as well – sounds good, right?
Imagine a small town whose inhabitants for years have seen the engine compartment of a car as a giant hands-off mystery. Now one of them (because they are broke, tired of waiting at the very slow or rude auto shop, or whatever) becomes curious or desperate enough to try their hand at changing their own oil. They learn how and discover that it is easy to do, cheaper than paying someone to do it, and quicker than waiting in line. They are no longer tied to the business hours of the place down the road and are not forced spend a weekend morning trapped in a service station.
Maybe pride in accomplishment and the newfound courage to try things outside of their comfort zone allows them to try changing their own wiper blades, brake lights, air filter and replacing their old battery. All the mundane stuff that used to eat up so much time or money or both is now taken care of at home for a fraction of the cost. Great!
What happens to the local service station? Nothing. A little less business. A little less profit. The people that work there aren’t affected all that much. After all, it was just one person reversing their personal tendency to outsource the things they aren’t interested in to someone down the road. But what happens when more and more people start learning those skills that they have avoided picking up? Business starts to dip noticeably and eventually the shop workers can no longer be paid. The service station goes under, and the specialists whose livelihood was 100% dependent on the ignorance of the townsfolk are now out of a job.
Zoom the camera out from the hypothetical service station and really look at the situation where you work, where your friends work, and all across the country, and you might be surprised to see that we are sitting in a Learned Helplessness Bubble.
(To be continued…)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment