But will tax increases ever be enough?  What we need is a smarter solution to this, and the answer is telecommuting.

So you want less cars on the roads in Toronto? Well, how do you want folks to get to work?  I guess you expect them to take the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission or fondly known as Take The Car)?

Ha!

Try taking the Yonge line downtown in the morning and let me know how many trains you have let pass you because they are too full.  Try waiting on a bus in the winter and count how many unfrozen toes you have left when you finally get on a bus with enough space.  And fares are going up, again.

Telecommuting is the perfect solution to Toronto’s congestion issues.  We’ll reduce traffic congestion, increase worker productivity through the reduction/elimination of travel time, and have a potentially profound positive impact on the environment.  Hey, we might even be able to fit riders on a subway car in the mornings.  There are plenty of other benefits, including increased work/family balance, increased job satisfaction, and reduced stress.

I’m sure there are many ways Toronto can encourage companies to adopt telecommuting as a standard way of operating their business, either through tax cuts or other incentives.  It would just take a little creativity instead of just taking the easy way out by just taxing more and more.

If you drive, would you pay added tolls or taxes and continue to drive to work?  What do you think about the idea of working from home?

When going through the process of adding / friending / following in social media, we often look for a common characteristic in our ‘friends’.  These characteristics can be anything, from the love of tech, design, political affiliation or religion or any other type of culture.  Why do we do this?  It’s an attempt in the perpetual battle of finding the the signal amongst the noise, but on that journey, are we falling prey to too much narcissism?

Here’s my concern:

If we only encourage interactions with people who are like ourselves by religion, politics, language, industry, etc., and shy away from everything else, will that not enclose us in a bubble?

Some Effects of the Bubble

One effect is that we end up with groupthink and an increasingly larger echo chamber.  A false reality is created by the purposeless regurgitation of ideas, everyone sheepishly agreeing with everyone else, and the ensuing lack of perspective due to isolation from the rest of the space.  Being open-minded isn’t enough.  What good is it being open-minded if there aren’t encounters with other perspectives?

Another effect is a related to the echo chamber: just pure boredom. Hearing about the same old topics over and over again can result in social media fatigue and blogger burnout.  Personally, I’d rather comment on someone else’s post rather than perpetuating a worn-out topic.  Sometimes, a comment can be just as meaningful as a post. (Heck, Disqus even thinks comments are blog posts)

Other effects include the suppression of different points of view which pushes folks to hold back on their level of engagement; and the isolation of those who dare to share all of the topics they like.

My Advice

• Diversify your friend subscriptions
• Encourage constructive discussion
• Backup your opinions with facts
• Empathize so you can be open-minded to see other viewpoints — you will learn more and appreciate others, and have others appreciate you for understanding them
• Being open-minded also involves welcoming a variety of topics from unexpected sources
• Be patient, you may have to endure some noise to gain more signal

In the end I think this will help you have more meaningful interactions, bring an added excitement to learning, and achieve greater satisfaction in your social media journey.

Is following a diverse group of people important to you?