The Importance of Context: Exploring Its Aspects and Impact

 The Importance of Context

Football Manager Pep Guardiola has accomplished many feats in his run. One of those feats is his outstanding record of 12-5-5 against the club of the century Real Madrid. Looking at this record you could safely assume that he dominates Madrid in most games, and you wouldn't be wrong considering the numbers. However, some context is missing. During the last 8 games against Madrid, Guardiola suffered 4 of those 5 losses on his record, won 3, and tied 1. He was once asked by a reporter: "Why it is so difficult to win the Champions League" to which he jokingly responded: "Because Madrid is always there."

This in no way takes away from the great record he has achieved against Real Madrid, but it shows that the recent record is not as dominating as the old one. It puts things in perspective.

There are a lot of aspects to consider when judging a record, an individual, an item, or anything that we wish to accurately assess. Context is always paramount.

So, What is Context?

The word originates from the Latin word contextus, which translates to joining together, scheme, or structure.1

Think of context as a racetrack for olympian runners. it shows the clear direction and space in which those athletes can run and reach the end of the race. When something is within the context, it means it is in a setting where it is fully understood. 

We are in search of context a lot of times during our daily lives. At times we don't understand particular instances because we lack it, at other times we wrongly misinterpret other instances because we ignore it. 

Let's say you're sitting at a cafe and you overhear a conversation between a couple:

The man says: "How could you do that?"

The woman replies: "I didn't do anything wrong!"

Because you lack the necessary context, it's challenging to understand what the man is actually referring to. Are they talking about something she has done to him, she has done to the car, or did she just order the wrong salad? In a small talk with a friend, recounting this and assuming all kinds of wild scenarios about what could be the topic of their conversation can be fun. However, you cannot say for certain what is actually happening as the absence of context leaves you confused. 

Movie Name: Memento

Context Aspects

There are many types of contexts that one could benefit from taking into consideration, cultural, social, economic, and historical are all important contexts. 

We are discussing some of the aspects that we pass by day-to-day that influence our perception and the decisions that we make. Getting a grasp of what makes a situation appear a certain way, guides us through situations that we would otherwise have found difficulty understanding. Some aspects that we should keep in mind are:

Time: Keeping in mind the changes that happen in the present, the changes that happened in the past, and the ones that are going to happen in the future put a solid perspective on how we approach discussions, deals, and ideas. Understanding time and its correlation with these things can meaningfully impact its essence. 

Take an example of how the older generation acts differently than the younger one when it comes to how they talk, act, and like to be perceived. Times change, and people from different times are just, different.

Place: The setting in which an event takes place drastically influences its interpretation.

For example in Scotland and Ireland, kilts aka skirts, are traditionally worn by men as a symbol of pride in their Celtics culture. However, people unfamiliar with their culture and tradition might find it outlandish that Scottish and Irish men wear skirts. That's why it's important to seek information or refrain from judgment in the case of no appropriate context.

Frame: Recognizing different circumstances helps us frame and shape a coherent understanding of a situation. Because a lot of what we go through is dependent on conditions and the information that is available.

In the movie Inception, during the crew's mission to change Fischer's opinion on keeping his father's empire, Saito gets shot during the shout-out with Fisher's security inside the dream. Once the crew is inside the empty warehouse, Eames attempts to kill Saito to end his suffering and wake him up from the dream. However, Cobb stops him from doing so. That's because the crew was heavily sedated, so unlike normal dreams where dying would result in waking up, during this dream, they would fall into limbo and have no hope of escape.

Eames' lack of information and ignorance of the current conditions almost ended up in him killing Saito and consequently failing their mission.

It's important to keep in mind that situations can be subject to change depending on time, place, and frame. 

The Absence of Context

It could seem like it's not a big deal to leave out context, especially when we might feel like we know more than we actually do. Being quick to assume could be of great benefit in a place where immediate action is required in order to protect ourselves. But, in a different place, it's critical to be wary of aspects surrounding what's being thrown at us. 

Predominantly in social media, a lot of information is dumped in our feeds. And this was even more widespread with the rise of Tiktok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts. Through that, we consume a significant amount of information in a short period of time.

A lot of news is spread through these short-spanned videos, and since these videos are easily consumable and believable if one doesn't pay attention to its farming, one can get lost because of how out of context it can be. 

The problem of misinformation on social media has been intensively studied. A study published by Sage Journals regarding the misinformation on social media concluded that false content among users has risen steadily on both Facebook and Twitter.2

Recently on Twitter, Elon Musk introduced a new feature called community notes in which users can provide context on videos that could be misleading. This has been long taking place in other social media platforms such as Meta(Facebook, Instagram), and Google. However, can we really count on other people to alert us to pay attention to our content consumption, or is that our responsibility? Shouldn't we be curious about things that pertain to us?

This is just an example of how the absence of context could lead to misinformation. There are many other ways in which lacking context could lead to misinterpretation, misinformation, and confusion in our lives.

Putting it All Together

Considering the nature of ignorance regarding aspects of an event or a conversation, it is crucial to first be curious, observe and take note of what we are witnessing rather than jumping to judgment as our initial course of action.

Engaging in critical thinking is a big first step towards viewing things from different, less judgmental, and rational perspectives. By doing so, we hold ourselves accountable and take responsibility for thinking and evaluating on our own. This approach helps us avoid wasting time and pursuing convenience alone. Additionally, it enhances our understanding of people and things enabling us to solve the problems we encounter, as we recognize that not everything is as it appears without proper context.

Being curious about our environment and the behaviors we exhibit plays a role in attaining the proper tools we can use to better ourselves personally. In exploring the theme of understanding and curiosity, we are reminded of a well-known proverb that sometimes is also taken out of context. It says: "Curiosity killed the cat." yet the forgotten continuation says: "But satisfaction brought it back." While it highlights the potential risk of being curious, it emphasizes that satisfying one's curiosity can mitigate the negative outcomes. 

                                                    

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1 https://www.dictionary.com/browse/context#:~:text=The%20first%20records%20of%20the,%2C%20scheme%2C%20or%20structure.%E2%80%9D DICTIONARY

2  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2053168019848554 Sage Journals.2019