Content vs Context: What’s the Difference?
Content is visible.
Context is invisible.
Content is the data.
Context is the purpose.
Just focusing on the content will lead to brainwashing.
That’s how a lot of fake news gets propagated.
The fake news site gets pockets of content and distributes it.
The consumer sees the pockets of content (which most likely is negative) and automatically creates a fragmented perception.
They never ask:
- Why am I only shown these snippets?
- Where is the full clip?
- Does the news provider have any bias?
A person who looks for the context must be emotionally stable.
They aren’t just going to follow a direction because others are going there.
But I see confusion in your eyes.
You probably have no clue what I’m talking about.
So, allow me to share a funny example of the difference between content vs context.
Hearing vs Listening
Imagine there are 2 friends:
- CJ and Paul.
One day, CJ is walking back from work.
Then he gets jumped by a bunch of goons.
The goons try stealing CJ’s backpack.
Luckily, CJ is a trained fighter so he is capable of fighting them off.
Paul just had an argument with his manager.
He is pissed.
He leaves his office and goes for a walk.
While he is on the walk, CJ calls him.
CJ begins detailing the fight he just had with the goons.
But Paul’s mind is still on his manager.
Paul asks some basic questions…
But that’s about it.
A few days later, Paul and CJ meet up.
Paul asks CJ:
‘Hey, are you still getting into fights?’
CJ hears the question and becomes furious.
‘What do you mean, am I still getting into fights?? I only fought because I got jumped!’
The way Paul framed the question made CJ sound unhinged.
He made it seem like CJ was just going around fighting willy-nilly.
If he actually listened to the story, then he would have realized:
- CJ got in a fight, yes.
- But it was due to self-defense.
Why People Miss the Context
Often, people miss the context because they were hearing, but not listening.
They heard the words but didn’t understand the meaning.
But to go one level further, in order to spot the context, you need to have judgment.
To have judgment, there needs to be a blend of:
- Book smarts.
- Street smarts.
Book smarts are knowledge from someone else.
You haven’t experienced everything out there.
So, using resources from others will help you fill in the gaps.
Street smarts are built from your own fuck ups.
This is known as putting in the work.
Someone who is capable of spotting the context beautifully:
- Leads with street smarts.
- Fills in the gaps with book smarts.
By having both types of intelligence under their belt, they are capable of asking the question:
‘Why?’
Why is the one of the most important questions to ask.
This question allows you to spot the bigger picture.
Emotional Maturity and Spotting the Context
‘Speaking of why, Armani…why doesn’t someone learn to spot the context better?’
1 reason is due to a lack of intelligence (book & street smarts).
Another reason is to due to heavy bias (poor emotional maturity).
If you have 0 clue about something…
Then it will be difficult to know WHEN to ask why.
On the other hand, let’s say someone knows when to ask why.
However, they are heavily biased towards a certain position.
Say there is a person who is hardcore into accountability.
And they are debating someone who believes societal help should outweigh individual accountability.
The person who loves accountability will be tempted to view the person talking down on accountability as someone who wants handouts and is lazy.
The most important thing to do here is:
- Control emotions.
By controlling emotions, it will be easier to understand the why from their perspective.
Once you understand their perspective, the words coming out of their mouth will make way more sense.
PS: Understanding does not mean agreeing.
Exercise to Spot Context vs Context
For the following exercise, find a friend.
Have your friend:
- Choose a random article.
- Choose 10 random words from that article.
- Then have them send those 10 words to you.
Once you get the 10 words, ask:
‘What is this article about?’
Once you have an answer, have your friend send the full article.
- Was your guess close to being correct?
- Was it way off?
Whether you were correct or incorrect is not the point.
The purpose of the exercise was to show you the difference between fragments of data and the full picture.
Content is great.
But context is what allows all the content to have harmony behind it.
Final Words on How to Distinguish Content vs Context
Let’s say you only consume content.
Sure, you will be able to spot the context over time.
If you keep watching movies…
Then you’ll have an understanding of the intentions of different filmmakers.
But if you want to skyrocket your ability to distinguish content from context, then:
Blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts, tweets, etc.
Anything!
The content is the words, audio waves, and pixels.
But the context is the purpose of what is underlying every word, audio wave, and pixel.
A lot of times, you will understand the context through rage.
This is when you create a certain piece…
Then someone gets the completely wrong interpretation of what you were saying:
‘This author was clearly talking about how he hates women.’
And you’re like:
‘No, that wasn’t what I meant at all!! I was talking about how men and women are different.’
During that moment of rage, you’ll see that context is subjective.
Just because you have one view doesn’t mean others will have the same view.
Hey…
I did say context was invisible.
It’s a mysterious force that will always be difficult to grasp.
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