Friday 3 February 2012

On sharp reflexes and Twitter Accounts

A few years ago on a visit to the Ontario Science Centre I took an interactive reflex test and scored 100% or Excellent  - or whatever the grading system was. There are times when having sharp reflexes is incredibly useful like earlier in the week when I was at the home of a fastidious person and on moving something along a shelf inadvertently sent a jar flying. Thankfully my hand shot out and caught it 1mm away from the milk jug it was about to smash saving the jar, the jug, and an awkward situation. Or like today in the supermarket when I caught my shopping before it dropped to the floor because the cashier somehow missed putting it on the metal shelf by her till.  This kind of thing happens regularly, a while ago I caught a friend's child who tripped and prevented him from hitting his head on the side of the bath. His mother and I were both equidistant from him but my reflexes were quicker.*
      Before this dissolves entirely into some kind of narcissistic praise of my reflexes, the downside should also be mentioned. Having sharp reflexes can also involve reacting quickly to situations and conversations, the worst kind of 'conversation' being that in which it is possible to type and press enter before allowing the words to fully filter through the thought process. Or more precisely, pressing enter before summing up how abrupt words on the screen can appear in the absence of tone of voice. This is one of the many reasons why I'm not keen on Twitter.

Update: See this for a horrifying example. (How one stupid tweet ruined Justine Sacco's life.)

For those who have pressed enter far too quickly:




2 comments:

  1. Sorry, some of us don't have trivial problems such as this

    ReplyDelete
  2. Duly chastised, I've added a more serious note at the end. ;-)

    ReplyDelete