So I’ve been really thinking about this since reading the about research in this unit. One thing that really stuck out was the mention that people rarely ever question statistics or findings in research. The example given here was about same sex marriage, and they proposed a number of supporters with no margin of error or number of people pooled. I began to think about how many times I hear people in my daily life throw around statistics that they’ve heard on the radio, news, or just from the everyday gossip train. I know I’m victim of it myself. I can hear my dad now just rattling off new statistics on this or that with nothing to back it up. A couple of months ago I heard the reports of a study on my way in to work. I believe it was on NPR or a local talk station. The funny thing is I can’t remember that part of the equation. The host mentioned that in a Harvard study nearly 11% of the population walks around with their cell phone up to their ear with no one actually talking to them. This is due to the people feeling social awkward and needing to withdraw and remain in an isolated bubble. In today’s society there is no need to verbally communicate. All you have to do is text or blog or email or maintain virtual friendships in a “safe” online environment. There’s no need to physically interact with humans anymore. Therefore, 11% of the population will just walk around with their phone up to their ear with no one on the other side just to avoid social interaction. And yet… I have no idea if this is even true or not. I was simply driving into to work when I heard this report. I’m not even sure if the percentage is correct anymore. All I know is I’m just like every other person in the short comment from our unit reading. I just blindly go by statistics through the acceptance of the data. I guess, in a sense, that makes me a statistic as well.