The Telephone Problem

Oct 12

The game telephone (although apparently its original name is a bit more offensive!) is a simple game that teaches us a valuable lesson.  From it we learn that people are awful at accurate transmission of information.  In the case of the game, it leads to amusement and fun when finding out how quickly and drastically words will change.

However the game is not as funny in its everyday depictions.  We reference people who reference other people who read about some research piece in a magazine.  Other people pass along hearsay as common knowledge, and we grow to have a distorted view of truth.  We might see these everyday ranging from common myths about food to common myths about (unmarried couples) living together.  Despite our best intentions at accuracy there is something that we will never learn from the telephone game as well as we should - we are just not able to effectively relate information.  It is somehow beyond our grasp.  We tend toward chaos simply because we are human.

(Then again that is why coming upon exceptions to this rule is so amazing!)

Lesson to be learned?  You cannot relay information well so do it more judiciously.  That is, information that you do not relay does not have the opportunity to prove that you are speaking falsely.  Don’t trust me?  There are more reputable sources.