TED talks in general are one of my favorite ways to watch something while feeling productive because I feel like I learn so much or have so much to think about after just 20 minutes. Normally, I find myself listening to the podcast versions of these talks, so actually seeing the speaker on stage was something new that I got to experience.
While I was navigating the TED Talk website, I came across one in particular that drew my attention the most. This talk is entitled “The Power of Introverts” which seemed like a perfect watch for me, as I consider myself an introvert. This talk by Susan Cain not only provided this engaging information and ideas to consider, but it also gave me hope that if an introvert like her can go out and speak to millions of people, then my own public speaking experiences shouldn’t seem impossible. I found this talk both relatable and helpful. It’s funny because I’ve always considered myself an uncreative person, but according to Cain’s talk this might just be because I haven’t given myself the time to try to be creative on my own. Susan Cain, throughout this talk, goes on to explain how societal structures, like school and work, are being more and more designed for extroverted people. She emphasizes how this is doing a disservice to the creativity and productivity of students and workers because it is only adhering to their extroverted sides. She argues that each person has a varying combination of extroverted and introverted qualities, yet our school and work environments fail to recognize this and seem to only reward extroverted behavior.
For my Unit Two project, I have a few ideas that I might end up choosing. I am particularly interested in following the progression and use of a particular word. Instead of looking at how a slang word came to be recently, I think I’d be more interested in looking at how a traditional word actually transformed meanings and morphed into something more relevant for use today. Some examples might be the words “nice”, “pretty”, or “girl” and how each of their usages are tied to the perception and objectification of women at the time. For example, the word “girl” in the 1300s referred to a child in general, whether female or male. Interestingly, as people seemed to need a way to distinguish between men and women, even when they were incredibly young, the word “girl” transitioned to referring to a female child.
Here’s a link to the TED talk:
This TED Talk sound really interesting, I will definitely be watching it. And I think your Unit 2 idea is absolutely AMAZING. I think that would be so cool to research further.
As a fellow introvert, I will definitely look into this talk. I think you have selected words that definitely have a lot of history and provide for an interesting paradigm shift paper.
I am not sure if I am an extrovert or introvert. I have done several tests and I am an ambivert which is the combination of both. I am more extrovert than introvert. This is a really interesting topic.