The pocketknife paradox
A few months ago I was having a discussion with a few friends of mine and the subject of social awkwardness as it applies to telephone conversations arose. I am in many ways a stereotypical nerd and I am no stranger to social awkwardness. I have grown out of the worst of it, but telephone calls are still difficult for me.
One of my friends could not believe that anyone could have trouble making a phone call or talking to someone on the phone. At the time he worked in tech support and answered phones for a living. It came very naturally to him and he had trouble believing that he had some special skill that made him good at his job.
Eventually I came to realize how his attitude mirrored my own, albeit about entirely different subjects. I often have trouble understanding how some people are unable to understand basic logic or simple math. It’s frustrating to encounter an otherwise intelligent person who barely understand a concept as simple as say, division. There are certain skills that I possess that are “innate” (I don’t know if it’s genetic or environmental but it doesn’t matter either way) and that I take for granted. These skills are so simple for me that I have to fight the temptation to write off as stupid people who have difficulty with the same tasks.
I call this the “pocketknife paradox” – I have a lock-back pocketknife that I typically carry on me. I have observed that somewhere around half (and I believe it to be greater than half) of the people that I have lent it to are unable to figure out how to close it. The mechanism to lock the knife in the open position is so intuitive to me that I forget that many people don’t observe things the same way I do.