I don't have title creativity either: Response to Lakoff Blog

I am responding to Beth’s blog titled “I don’t have title creativity: Lakoff Chapter 2” posted at 8:08 pm in which she discussed framing, which was a theme that I also responded to in Chapter 2.She says, “We constantly have an idea in our mind about how something is supposed to go, and when faced with a different scenario than what’s expected, we are thrown off.”

Beth gives the example of calling the doctor’s office and expecting to hear a machine, but instead hearing a human voice. This also relates back to language because we are used to indirectly communicating with people through e-mail, instant messenger, and answering machines, so sometimes communicating face to face or even voice to voice seems startling. Technology has allowed the way we communicate to be less about conversation and more about getting what you need from another person, and moving on.

Lakoff says that frames allow us to make predictions and generalizations. So isn’t this holding us back? If we are all trapped within our little frames of reality, which give us repetition and comfort, but don’t allow us to have new perceptions and experiences then how are we evolving on a day to day basis?

Beth discusses in her blog Alice’s confusion after she is switched from one frame to another, and compares this confusion to being an infant. That sort of reminded me of making the transition from high school to college, forming new relationships, and being in an environment that was completely different to the one of your home with your parents. It didn’t feel normal at first, but like Beth says, “We constantly change what is “normal” in our minds. So while once I may have felt lost without my parents’ home and company as a constant reassurance, now I can hardly imagine wanting to move back home. I think that is partly why it is so difficult to live at school and at home, because you are constantly changing your frames, and your perceptions are constantly changing.