Thinking Passage: The Dangers of Ambiguous Language

Ken Davis

University of Potomac

Yvonne Hood

Questions for Analysis

1. If the pilot of the airplane were alive (all crew died in the crash), how do you think he would analyze the cause of the crash?

2. How do air traffic controllers and the FAA analyze the cause of the crash?

3. How do you analyze the cause of the crash? What reasons led you to that conclusion?

4. Describe a situation that you were involved in, or that you heard about, in which a misunderstanding resulted from an ambiguous use of language.

Have a lot of time on your hands and become bored easily?

Encounter the urge to “cheat” and check in with your usual technology outlets?

Seek out non-technological forms of engagement that you had begun to disregard, such as reading favorite books or magazines, talking with a friend, or just going on a walk?

Begin to consider how important your relationship to technology has become to your daily life and self-identity?

Become freed up to engage more deeply or creatively with your own thoughts?

Feel either more relaxed and at ease, or more anxious and distracted?

After responding to these questions, analyze what factors accounted for your experience. Would you do a technology break again?