📘 Part 3: Sharing

This episode's vocabulary

Inclined (adj.) - likely or wanting to do something.

Concrete (adj.) - clear and certain, or real and existing in a form that can be seen or felt.

Explicitly (adverb) - in a way that is clear and exact.

Fall into place (idiom) - when things fall into place, they happen in a satisfactory way, without problems.

To collaborate (verb) - to work with someone else for a special purpose.

Clique (noun) - a small group of people who spend their time together and do not welcome other people into that group.

Pull your weight (idiom) - to work as hard as other people in a group.

To wind up (phrasal verb) - to find yourself in an unexpected and usually unpleasant situation, especially as a result of what you do.

Credentials (phrase) - the abilities and experience that make someone suitable for a particular job or activity, or proof of someone's abilities and experience.

To pertain to something (phrasal verb) - to be connected with a particular subject, event, or situation.

To govern (verb) - to have a controlling influence on something.

To overshare (verb) - to tell people too much personal information about yourself.

Consent (noun) - permission or agreement.

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Questions and Answers

M: Let's talk about sharing. How can parents and teachers teach children to share?

R: Oh, well, as ever leading by example helps. If they show concrete models of how sharing can be done, then the children have something to base their sharing on. Another aspect of this will be setting expectations about how to handle sharing and making sure that children are aware of them.

M: Why don't some people like sharing?

R: I suppose they may be enjoying using whatever the thing is, and not want to lose access to it. Maybe they don't have access to other things and giving up access to the shared thing feels like they're losing something important as well.

M: And why is this a problem?

R: Well, because if you don't feel good about giving something up, then you're less likely to do it. And that will make you less inclined to want to share.

M: Is it important to have rules in shared accommodation?

R: Well, I don't know about strict and concrete rules, but some shared understandings about how things are done would be a good idea. I'm not sure it even needs to be explicitly said sometimes, just having a shared culture can be enough for things to automatically fall into place almost.

M: Are there any advantages to sharing your home with other people?

R: Well, definitely, it cuts down on costs. And it's more economical in terms of the use of space. I mean, for example, you can share an electricity bill or rent and housing space is used more efficiently.

M: Why do some people like to share accommodation on campus?

R: Oh, it's a good chance to band together with people who have shared interests or at least a shared space and network with them. You can also collaborate on work and plans. Many people meet their significant others this way too. So there are lots of upsides to having a sort of clique in your accommodation.

M: And are there any problems?

R: Oh, yeah. In terms of problems, I mean, it's easy to see people not pulling their weight in terms of chores or respect in the shared space, for example, by not cleaning up after themselves or playing loud music. Some people even steal things.

M: Do people in your country prefer to share public transport? Or do they prefer private transport?

R: Well, I'm hardly an expert. But if I were to guess I would say they prefer to use their own, or they would use their own if they had the choice. However, many of them don't have that opportunity. So they wind up piling into buses and trains. Private transport is more convenient, usually better maintained and is less affected by strikes. So it's easy to see why that would be the preference. If it is.

M: Is it good to share personal information on the internet?

R: Almost always never. It could be used by predatory companies and individuals in different ways against the people who provided it. Take social networks, for example, all their data is sold to marketing companies to sell adverts and products to people and manipulate them into buying things. Perhaps if it was shared privately, then it would be acceptable as long as it wasn't possible to use it against people. But even then there's no guarantee that that will not happen in the future.

M: And what information is it safe to share online?

R: I would say the less information shared the better. However, I suppose you could get away with sharing your name, your credentials as well. So that people have an idea of the kind of authority which you speak with, and probably your picture too. Everything else, it's a bit too risky in this day and age, I wouldn't share anything beyond that.

M: And is it okay for the employer to share your personal information at work?

R: Well, if we mean personal information, like your name, then yes, because people have to know who they're working with, otherwise nothing would get done. But things like where you live, or I'm thinking like any medical conditions, as long as they don't pertain to your work, then that's inappropriate and probably illegal in some countries.

M: Do you think there should be some laws or rules on sharing personal information online?

R: There are. For example, in the United Kingdom, there's something called GDPR, which I think is something like the general data protection regulations is what it stands for, and that governs how your data is to be treated. There are different classes and categories of information with varying levels of access that other people have to them, because of the problems that have happened with people oversharing information with or without their consent, or having their information shared without their consent.

M: And do you think people will have more problems with sharing personal information in the future?

R: It depends what you mean by that because if you mean will they have problems with like being able to share their information? Probably not. It's easier now more than ever to just click a button and share everything about yourself with the world. But if you mean, having it shared when they don't want that to happen, then I don't know how that will turn out. If the restrictions work as they're intended to, then it should be much less common for people to have things happen to their data without their consent. But it's difficult to say if they're working or not right now. It's only a recent development in law.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

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