A Perfect Example of Unconscious Bias

Waking The Dead, Frozen and Happiness Hours

Hello.

It’s been another chilly week with frost and snow. Unfortunately, we’ve not had enough snow here to build a snowman or go sledging.

I love lots of things about snow and how pretty frost makes everything look. But it can be a pain when you need to be somewhere.

Last Wednesday, I was heading out early to see a client. It was still dark, and the car was covered in snow. I headed out with a soft sweeping brush to follow my usual process:

1. Brush the snow off the car.
2. Take the de-icer out of the boot and spray the windows.
3. Switch the engine on (and heated seats) to start warming up the car while I pop the brush back in the side and lock it up.

Takes about 5 minutes. Job’s a good-un.

But Mother Nature’s attempted to freeze me in my tracks last week. The snow had frozen on the car, and all the car doors were frozen shut! So, it came down to the old warm water in the bucket trick. 😁

Lesson learned: always keep some de-icing products outside the car or risk being locked in a frozen prison.

As we approach the end of January, I can’t wait for the ‘Queen Extravaganza’ at The Lowry. It’s my first show of the year and another one that had to be rearranged due to Covid. There’s nothing I love more than belting out Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of my lungs.

I hope you’ve managed to do a few fun things to keep yourself busy this month. If so, I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to and any recommendations you have.

To keep you occupied today, here are this week’s top picks.

Decluttering is one of my goals this year. I’m terrible for keeping things ‘just in case’. I still find myself reluctant to dispose of things I haven’t used for years, and it needs to stop. Therefore, I’ve set myself the task of decluttering my life over the course of the year.

I read this article from Inc. and loved the first point about mindset. So, instead of ‘What if I need it someday?’ I’m asking myself questions like: “What could this make room for that I actually need?” or “Who might need this now?”. It’s made a huge difference.

What could you do with decluttering this year? Take a look at the article and see if it gives you some inspiration either of what to do or how to do it.

Do you ever notice unconscious bias on TV?

As I was binge-watching one of my all-time favourite series, ‘Waking The Dead,’ I couldn’t help but notice a topic we’ve been closely examining recently.

The episode involved a case where a man had entered a multi-story garage and shot multiple people. The team working on the cold case visited the car park to help understand what had happened.

The lead detective explained that the gunman had opened fire on a couple seated in a vehicle. The woman was tragically hit, but the man managed to play dead until the police arrived. Another team member enquired, “Why didn’t he just drive away?”. The lead detective responded, “Because he was in the passenger seat.”

It was clear that the officer had an unconscious bias that the man would be in the driver’s seat when in reality, he was the passenger.

Although we can’t eradicate unconscious bias, we can bring it into our conscious awareness to better control our actions. For example, in this scenario, the team member could ask, “Who was sat in the driver’s seat?”. This question would still help them understand the scenario better without making assumptions that need to be corrected or could be detrimental to the situation.

It’s moments like these that remind me how common unconscious bias can be in our everyday lives. Once you become aware of it, it’s almost impossible to miss. It’s also a reminder that we must always be vigilant and work to overcome these biases.

If you missed out on previous editions of our Tuesday’s Top Picks, you can find a list of our back catalogue here.