4 ms·

I agree with most of what he's saying but reading the first sentence almost stopped me in my tracks when I got to "obsessed". I wonder when exactly it was that

by gyulai 5y ago

I agree with most of what he's saying but reading the first sentence almost stopped me in my tracks when I got to "obsessed". I wonder when exactly it was that "obsessed about this" and "obsessed about that" became a good thing. ...it's thrown around way too much these days, and I for one think that being obsessed with anything, regardless of how positive a thing it is, always speaks to a psychology that is defective in some way or another.

ska 5y ago
"focused on" is probably better terminology.
ian-whitestone 5y ago
Obsessed may have been overkill :)
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
concreteblock 5y ago
Doesn't it just mean that the meaning of the word has changed?
- xapata 5y ago
  Is changing, not has changed. If it already had, no one would remark on it.
- gyulai 5y ago
  > Doesn't it just mean that the meaning of the word has changed? ...I do feel a bit bad amount mentioning it, because it's pretty tangential to what the article is actually about. That said: Changes in meanings of words often go hand-in-hand with broad-based changes in the way people think about something, and it's useful to reflect on whether or not one wants to go along with that thinking. There is even a bit of a clichee anyway around sciency-engineeringy folk falling within the "obsessive" range of the personality spectrum in the very original sense of the word where it might be something that a psychotherapist might work on to try and rectify. So when I see it in this particular sphere being attached to a positive value judgment and even with slightly prescriptivist overtones, then it's something that to me really "pops" and it's been happening to me more and more lately.
- nerdponx 5y ago
  No, it's just hyperbole.
lhnz 5y ago
"excited by"
SuoDuanDao 5y ago
An interesting description of obsession I've come across is that it's what happens when the will is frustrated. So maybe temporary obsession can be a good thing, if it's a sign someone's chosen a task so difficult that they need to expand effort to overcome a significant hurdle.
autokad 5y ago
I guess you can't work for Amazon then. You'll never get passed the Customer Obsession LP
salemh 5y ago
Similar to how some companies are intent on speaking about themselves and employees as "family," you may be having the same reaction from the word usage of "obsessed." Of course, most companies say you must now be "obsessed" with customers, or quality, or some such things. Language control in this respect seems a bit easier to understand with the phrase that became very popular for companies to try and model Apples consumers during the iPod revolution (at least how I remember it while studying a bit of Industrial psychology and Marketing / Cognitive Neuromarketing (that fad died out thankfully)) I'm sure its been around for a while, but its been more "we need brand evangelist fanatic zealots" for the last 10-20 years. "Obsessed, evangelist, brand fanatic, turn your customers into zealots," etc is also used heavily in internal company "values." *Guy Kawasaki at least helped promote the idea for other companies after he left Apple: https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-art-of-evangelism https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-art-of-evangelism

by gyulai 5y ago

ska 5y ago

"focused on" is probably better terminology.

ian-whitestone 5y ago

Obsessed may have been overkill :)

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

concreteblock 5y ago

Doesn't it just mean that the meaning of the word has changed?

xapata 5y ago
Is changing, not has changed. If it already had, no one would remark on it.
gyulai 5y ago
> Doesn't it just mean that the meaning of the word has changed? ...I do feel a bit bad amount mentioning it, because it's pretty tangential to what the article is actually about. That said: Changes in meanings of words often go hand-in-hand with broad-based changes in the way people think about something, and it's useful to reflect on whether or not one wants to go along with that thinking. There is even a bit of a clichee anyway around sciency-engineeringy folk falling within the "obsessive" range of the personality spectrum in the very original sense of the word where it might be something that a psychotherapist might work on to try and rectify. So when I see it in this particular sphere being attached to a positive value judgment and even with slightly prescriptivist overtones, then it's something that to me really "pops" and it's been happening to me more and more lately.
nerdponx 5y ago
No, it's just hyperbole.

lhnz 5y ago

"excited by"

SuoDuanDao 5y ago

An interesting description of obsession I've come across is that it's what happens when the will is frustrated. So maybe temporary obsession can be a good thing, if it's a sign someone's chosen a task so difficult that they need to expand effort to overcome a significant hurdle.

autokad 5y ago

I guess you can't work for Amazon then. You'll never get passed the Customer Obsession LP

salemh 5y ago

Similar to how some companies are intent on speaking about themselves and employees as "family," you may be having the same reaction from the word usage of "obsessed." Of course, most companies say you must now be "obsessed" with customers, or quality, or some such things. Language control in this respect seems a bit easier to understand with the phrase that became very popular for companies to try and model Apples consumers during the iPod revolution (at least how I remember it while studying a bit of Industrial psychology and Marketing / Cognitive Neuromarketing (that fad died out thankfully)) I'm sure its been around for a while, but its been more "we need brand evangelist fanatic zealots" for the last 10-20 years. "Obsessed, evangelist, brand fanatic, turn your customers into zealots," etc is also used heavily in internal company "values." *Guy Kawasaki at least helped promote the idea for other companies after he left Apple: https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-art-of-evangelism https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-art-of-evangelism