Are you listening?
Written by Ben Tallon
The detachment from much of my social media feels good. It comes with downsides: slightly fewer podcast listeners (though it’s a minefield trying to get a real sense of the causes and effects of that, and that now deeply embedded sense that you’re missing so much good stuff. The thing is, when I check it, this is rarely the case. Every time I go away anywhere or spend more than a few hours without access to my smartphone, my brain is certain there’ll be so many pressing matters awaiting me, and while here and there, a decent email containing paid work might have landed, or mild personal life concern, this belief is never founded on anything other than my conditioning at the hands of tech companies.
On one Friday night check on the way home after a night out, I saw previous podcast guest, Yasmin Ali (see episode below) share a book called Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing by Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan. This got me right off the bat and I bought the audiobook before my key was in the door. It’s about listening; predominantly in healthcare, given Dr Dhairyawan’s role as an HIV and sexual health doctor, but its broader themes – why people go unheard, knowing a person, culture, and shared challenges – are relevant to creativity. One huge downside to the overuse of tech was that I’ve found myself, at times, less than properly present. I’d forget conversations, my mind elsewhere, and the subsequent self-loathing was fierce when I upset the person trying to talk to me. This still happens after a mentally demanding day, but now I know when it’s time for a little downtime to get some cognitive function back, as opposed to allowing my mind to be pulled in a thousand different directions by those online vacuous time thief platforms.
Following on from The Anxious Generation, Unheard is something of a cautionary tale; I find the future state of our relationships un-nerving. If none of us can hold our attention long enough to apply ourselves to anything, where does that end? Dr Rageshri has written a corker – a wonderful document of how poor listening, preconceptions, biases and cultural assumptions result in stark, troubling physical realities for too many people. It’s a brilliantly written rallying cry for more time, patience, and compassion between doctor and patient in the face of overwhelming pressures from every angle for besieged healthcare workers. I was delighted, just as I sat drinking in her stories and making notes – to hear her wax lyrical about the power of the arts to support greater listening, understanding, and well-targeted action for positive change.
With any luck, Dr Dhairyawan and I will soon get to chat for The Creative Condition!