The stigma created by labeling concepts
I've always found the labeling of concepts to be a bit of a show-off. It might sound abstract, but let me give you some examples from my own experience to illustrate what I mean.
Take marketing, for instance. It's been around since the early 20th century, evolving naturally from trade and commerce. But by slapping a fancy name on it and treating it like some special discipline, we've kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Now, a lot of people see marketing as this manipulative, sneaky thing, rather than just connecting products with the folks who need them. It's frustrating, really.
Speaking of which, I've personally struggled with this. For the longest time, I found it hard, even kind of inappropriate, to introduce myself as a "Digital Marketer." It felt like I was putting on airs or trying to make my job sound more important than it really was. But at the end of the day, I'm just helping businesses reach people who might be interested in what they're selling. Nothing more, nothing less.
And don't even get me started on "networking." God, I hate that word. It's just building relationships, for crying out loud! But now that we've labeled it and turned it into this strategic thing, it feels fake and self-serving. I remember going to a "networking event" once and feeling like everyone was just there to hand out business cards and make superficial small talk. It was awful.
This labeling trend has even invaded our personal lives. "Self-care" is all the rage now, but isn't it just... taking care of yourself? My mom never needed a special term for taking a bubble bath or reading a good book when she needed to relax. Now I see friends posting their "self-care routines" on Instagram, and it just feels like added pressure to do it "right."
The irony is, I know these labels probably started with good intentions. Someone wanted to study or improve these practices. But by giving them special names, we've changed how we think about them, and not always for the better. Maybe what we need is to step back and look at the bigger picture. Instead of getting caught up in all these buzzwords, we could focus on what these concepts actually mean in our daily lives. Like, instead of stressing about "networking," why not just focus on meeting interesting people and building genuine connections?
I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this. But I can't help feeling that if we could strip away all this unnecessary jargon and hype, we might be able to approach these things more naturally. After all, most of this stuff is just basic human behavior with a fancy label slapped on it.
What do you think? Have you ever felt weird about using these kinds of labels in your own life or work?