Invisible Inputs: Everyday Data Guiding Decisions We Make
We often think of data as spreadsheets, dashboards, or complex analytics with some fancy infographics and key insights to inform business decisions or scientific research. But really, data is all around us, often quietly guiding our decisions and choices in ways we don’t even realize. From the scent of the air (petrichor, anyone?), to the dirt on our car, or the wilt of our garden demanding more water (maybe that’s just my garden this week…ahem) — we’re constantly processing tiny signals – subconscious inputs that shape and influence our decisions, large and small. Below are three examples of everyday types of data that may shape our behavior and decision-making, and how it shows up in our everyday lives.
1. Environmental Cues (Sensory Data)
Environmental cues are things like temperature, lighting, smells, sounds, and visual patterns in our environment. These cues might drive subconscious decision such as:
- You bring a jacket because the sky looks “stormy,” even if you didn’t check the weather.
- You choose a different coffee shop because the other one “felt off” today—maybe it was the lighting or music.
- You clean your house because something in the air smells…musty. (Or, there’s an abundance of dog hair on the stairs!)
These decisions might be mundane, but, they can affect our comfort, our safety, and our mood. They are sensory signals that help us avoid discomfort and maintain stability. Kind of like survival data, but, in modern and civilized packaging.
2. Social Signals (Behavioral Data)
Social signal data is the detection of body language, tone of voice, social media reactions, or crowd behavior. These are often subconsciously registered data points that might influence decisions like:
- You decide not to share a thought in a meeting because others look disinterested
- You choose to try a restaurant because you saw a friend post about it.
- You sense tension in a situation and change how you engage without fully knowing why.
These kinds of decision are important for relationship management and can influence our sense of emotional well-being, reputation, and social belonging. They can be especially impactful because we are wired to adapt to group dynamics. Reading social data helps us navigate complex human interactions, often before we’re consciously aware of it. (But, beware, our interpretation of these data points is often flawed as it is filtered through personal experiences and biases, and sometimes the decisions we make as a result are not always in our best interest!)
3. Routine Patterns (Behavioral Data Over Time)
Routines, or, rhythms of behaviorial data reflect our patterns as measured by time of day, calendar cycles, energy levels, or other habitual context clues. It can drive behaviors such as:
- You grab a snack at 3pm — not because you’re hungry, but because that’s what happens at 3pm!
- You switch off your phone at night because your brain knows it’s “bedtime.” (Hint: This is a good one to keep doing!)
- You drive a certain route home out of habit, even if it’s not the fastest. (Waze be damned! Lol)
These types of decisions can be collectively powerful over time leading to changes in other personal KPIs that can shape health, productivity, and mental wellbeing. We are creatures of habits, and habits run on data – tiny signals our brain has encoded over time. They create cognitive shortcuts for greater efficiency. But, sometimes these automatic, subconscious decisions can trap us in patterns that need rethinking. (First, we must become aware of them, though!)
Data isn’t just a business asset. It’s a daily phenomenon influencing many hundreds of decisions we make every day from driving the coffee we choose, the friends we text, our emotional state, how we enter a room, what we prioritize, etc., etc. Some of these decisions are mundane. Some are quietly important. All of them come from signals that, while invisible, are no less real than any number on a spreadsheet or infographic of trends over time.
