Technology & our Imposter Syndrome
“Digital understanding is not about being able to code, it’s about being able to cope”. DotEveryone
As the influence of digital technology increases in all our lives, our capacity to ‘cope’ with it has become increasingly important. By coping we mean the ability to anticipate and respond quickly to the change created by technology.
In just a decade the idea of “digital knowledge” has shifted from a niche skillset to something that’s becoming mandatory for everyone. We firmly believe that technology is far too important to all of us to be left to technologists.
Acquiring the relevant information is not easy though, there’s no clear agreement on what we need to know and therefore what skills we need to cultivate. There’s no curriculum (and as educational establishments are discovering, by the time one has been written it’s most likely already out of date). The technology landscape is shifting fast and the lack of discernible boundaries and constant re-writing of the rules can make for a dissatisfying learning experience if approached in the wrong way.
A sense of context is key: part of the process of anticipation and response is understanding how tech companies function; how they make money; how they choose what they show us; why some of us pay more than others for the same products; who gets access to our data and why? When you make a phone call, is it ok for you not to know whether it’s a real person who’s at the other end?
We have to become better informed — we need to build a level of awareness, that over time will allow us to formulate the opinions that dictate how effectively we are able to respond. The technology sector has become a key driver of social and political change as well as change within commerce and communications. And yet many people don’t understand why or how this is happening. We need to think about the unintentional consequences of what’s unfolding. We have to pay attention.
One way round this is through understanding context. This allows you to set a course to your goals. Goals increase motivation, enhance performance and give the dopamine reward necessary to sustain any learning initiative. Understanding context is a constant challenge as we’re often plagued by unknown unknowns. Imagine a fish being asked to self-assess it’s ability to live in water...
Things get even more complicated when we add the confusion of technology to self-awareness. Technology obfuscates and makes us all feel deficient. Things are changing so fast, it’s almost impossible to stay on top of everything. I’m a terrible generalist when it comes to digital technology (I know a small amount about a lot of things). Delivering workshops I’m always aware that I may get a question to which I don’t know the answer. The feeling is horrible, my defensive barriers go up. Self-doubt creeps in and questions rush through my head like:
Am I in over my head? Am I good enough to do this?
This is our impostor syndrome kicking in, a psychological pattern in which people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. Then I remember. This is ok. We’re all dealing with our own imposter syndrome and those who aren’t are living in ignorance.
This graphic from Simon Wardley perfectly represents the learning journey many of us go on from unknowns knowns to known unknowns.
It rings so true; it feels so right yet it’s a joke. Like many truisms, it feels convincing but is as he says, based on nothing.
The graph evokes a cognitive bias known as the Dunning Kruger Effect. This documents how people of low ability have a sense of illusory superiority and often mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. Essentially the less you understand something the simpler it appears. As Charles Darwin wrote, “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
Understanding digital technology is in many ways a contact sport. The closer you get to it, the better you understand it’s complexities. When friends say, ‘I’ve had an idea for an app’ and then lament when someone else creates it ‘I had that idea years ago’… It’s only through the messy process of making something that you start to fully understand how difficult it is.
So if the incompetent often think they are experts, what do genuine experts think of their own abilities? Dunning and Kruger found that those at the high end of the competence spectrum usually hold more realistic views of their own knowledge and capabilities and they tend to underestimate their own abilities relative to how others did.
So how can we avoid our own personal Dunning Kruger effect?
Keep learning and practicing. Learn through doing. Instead of assuming you know all there is to know about a subject, dig deeper. Work on it. Once you gain greater knowledge of a topic, the more likely you are to recognize how much there is still to learn.
Be comfortable with unknowns. Develop the ability to admit what you don’t know. When I’m asked questions I can’t answer, I say ‘I don’t know, let’s find out.’ Never make up an answer. This leads down a dark path.
Teach others. Teaching other people is the best way to test your understanding. Richard Feynman has a simple and effective method for this:
- 1: Choose a concept
- 2: Pretend teaching it to a child
- 3: Identify gaps and go back to the source material
- 4: Review and SIMPLIFY!
Ask other people how you’re doing. Another effective strategy involves asking others for constructive criticism. While it can sometimes be difficult to hear, this feedback provides valuable insights into how others perceive your abilities.
Question what you know. Even as you learn more and get feedback, it can be easy to only pay attention to things that confirm what you think you already know. This is an example of confirmation bias. In order to minimize this tendency, keep challenging your beliefs and expectations. Seek out information that challenges your ideas.
Record your progress. A key element of life is measuring what we do. Keeping a diary is probably the simplest, most effective thing you can do for your mental wellbeing. It’s a simple, human for form of benchmarking.
There’s a tension in any form of teaching. Making something as accessible so people want to engage with it (helping them see it as simple/attainable) whilst making them aware of the underlying complexities (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing). It’s like the shift from GSCE physics to A Level. The first 2 months of A Level physics is spent unlearning the over-simplistic models which explain the subject to younger pupils. Life is like this. A constant journey of learning and unlearning. Finding models appropriate to us at the time and then letting go. Acknowledging our vulnerability and being more empathic of others.
The ability to both use technology and to comprehend, in real terms, the impact that it has on our lives is one of the most important skills you need today. Learning new things while still hard, is relatively easy when compared to working out what to learn. We know what we know but how do we know what we don’t know.
As @tomroach says “A little bit of imposter syndrome gives you the healthy paranoia to keep you on your toes, and a little bit of Dunning Kruger gives you the confidence and courage to push ahead into uncharted territory. They’re opposite forces, that in small doses have their uses.”
Don’t waste your time trying to understand everything
Focus on elements relevant to your life
Develop your knowledge around concepts rather than tools
A good coach will help you identify your knowledge gaps and avoid learning the things you don’t need to know (now). A good coach will help you develop your curiosity and reduce your fear of unknowns so you continue to explore the new and the uncomfortable.
While the ability to learn is powerful, the ability to learn how to learn is unstoppable.
