Criticism, through hardened into society’s habits, causes a destructive cycle of imperfection. While it allows for corrective changes, improvements and adjustments in our world and often roots itself in improvement, excessive use creates a dangerous cycle.
Cambridge Dictionary defines criticism as “the act of saying that something or someone is bad or a comment that says what is bad about it.”
It is one thing to criticize theories, methods and machines, but when criticizing a person, that is entirely different.
Humans are drawn to improving the quality of their lives through external and internal methods to the extent that we have changed the world around us drastically so that it may cater to human beings. Now, if we place that mindset of progress onto ourselves, we are essentially under constant critical self-perception.
Criticism is a result of wanting things to be done to the best of their ability, yet, how can any individual live up to the impossible cycle of always having the capacity to be “better?” How does our mind hold up against these frequent critiques?
According to PsychCentral, a 2020 study noted, “criticisms are defined as negative feedback from others that’s often unpleasant but not uncommon.”
They found negative feedback affects a person’s mental health while positive criticism leads to self-efficiency.
The idea of self-improvement is not an inherently negative thing. Wanting to be a better person fosters growth. However, if we constantly tell ourselves “I am not good enough” we are putting ourselves in an impossible position.
Allowing the idea that we can always do better, be better, work harder or be the best consumes us, and may leave us burnt out from these constant self-criticisms — on top of the criticisms we receive from other people in our lives.
Criticism should not be a negative word, but it should be used with caution. Not everything can be fixed and no human will ever be perfected.
Criticism fails to acknowledge what we have done “right,” merely recognizing what we have done “wrong.”
Each person is completely unique from the next, and perfection is not attainable. While criticizing and critiquing ideas, theories and technologies are an inevitable part of progress, let’s remember we’re humans, not scientific processes.
