Intelligent Chat: Numbers

Why is it that when people ask for a favourite song, movie or poem you invariably get a list of five to fifty items from each and every person?

Is it an inability to read and answer a question properly (education), an inability to make a finite decision [even a temporary one] (exclusion fears), or is it just they way people are in today's society?

I'm going to conduct a little experiment in the 'other' forum and see how many people bother to read the question properly. What should I ask for and should be concise about wanting just one answer or just leave it as standard english?

examples:

I'm conducting a survey on books, name your favourite book and favourite author and favourite genre. Please also put how old you are and if you are male or female. Thanks!

What's your favourite movie of all time? Not the one you like best now, but the one you can always sit down and watch. Just one movie, you can only have one choice!

If this is meant to be taken seriously:

Book: If I could only choose one, it would be the Bible, because you get a whole range of different sorts of stories. I am a female and 16 years old.

Movie: I guess it would have to be Pride and Prejudice (the movie based on the book by Jane Austen).

I think I know where you are going here. It is so hard to choose just one thing, at least that's what I find. I think it's because people are so complex and what they may be thinking and feeling one day may be completely different from the next.

I think we definately know what we are, according to sex and age, because we can't really choose our natural sex ( I say natural because there are all sorts of different surgeries these days to change anything) and you can really only be one age at a time.

Choices can be hard sometimes, and often there are so many choices to be made with otehr choices that we become confused and indecisive.

.. I think that's all I have to say at this time..

"So this means you want to give the questioner a fair does of what you're about, perhaps because it links to your pride and self-esteem; perhaps because you fear they may judge you to some extent from it."

^^ That last paragraph rings true. I don't think there is any other way to explain indecisiveness.

So if it's qualification of judgement, who sets the rules? Society, the question setter of the person answering the question?

Is it not more a case of fear, wanting to fit in and be everyone's friend, a fear of abrasion and confrontation?

Maybe some people think that if you like a certain thing or whatever, that you're 'wierd' or 'don't belong'. I dunno, but that's what I find in certain circumstances sometimes, and let's face it: most of us want to belong. All of us, no matter if we rebel or say that we don't care, there's still a part in all of us that needs to be loved and to feel a part of a group.

I personally it's really dumb to judge someone because they like a certain style or movie that I don't agree with. Everyone's different and not everyone is going to be like you or how you like them, but sadly not everybody feels that way. Sometimes people do and sometimes they don't, but if they do some still don't stick up for the other because they too are 'afraid' of what others might say and 'not belonging' anymore. In that case, they're not any better than the other and this is all an on-going cycle that will never cease unless someone speaks out.

So where's your survey? Haha. I want to do it!

OK, So I made a post and I thought I'd go down a different track. Rather than wonder why a single answer is rarely given I wondered why multiple answers were a lot more popular. I put it down to a lack of individuality and a preference to stay in the crowd and pat each other on the back. Let's see how it does.

It's in Other and called Poet's Island Discs. I ask for five songs (not albums) and one book. Also I ask for a reason for each.

It's not being answered much, perhaps because it is correct that it singles people out and doesn't let them be individual. Or maybe it's because I'm not ateen and therefore not in the right group in the first place.

Any other theories?

I just filled that out before coming here - and it was hard. See, the question you asked needs care and thought - most youngsters are rash, and don't think it through.

I noticed the older people to answer would really explain why the choose what they did, and the younger ones would write a three word sentance like "because it rocks".

And then of course, a lot of people haven't bothered to answer. It does seem to me, as you've said, that it is because it singles them out. No matter what we hear so often about "originality" and "uniqueness", most people need to feel accepted. It's not so easy when we begin to close off all other options, and narrow it down to just the one answer (or five in this case).

I tried to keep my answers short and succinct in an effort to pull the choices from reading teens but it appears that didn't work.

It's been really interesting to see how diverse the answers from the rest of us has been. Good Omens is one of only two books I have bought three times (lost one, dropped one in the bath) because I had to have it on my shelf. The other is Red Storm Rising.

The trick question in there is the book choice. You get a single choice question when you think you're answering many. That's the one I've been focussing on.

Although I'm not particularly religious I nearly chose the Bible simply because it has a lot of good moral stories in there and I haven't read all of it yet.

I noticed the same things as Kara did, and it made me sad.

Personally, I find answering questions of that nature to be fun...also, I like to use my reasons for liking things as a way to encourage others to try and enjoy them aswell.

I guess people my age and younger just don't like to think things through. Either that or they're stoned....both of which would be applicable to today's teenagers. Haha, how terribly sad.

I reckon that the reason they didn't answer because they simply can't be bothered to do something that requires so much effort!

In response to Imogen:

To tell the truth, it should take little or no effort. If you truly enjoy something, then itshould not be difficult at all to type a few words explaining why you like it.

People on this site are writers...it seems slightly ironic that it would require effort to write an explanation.