What metaphor would you suggest instead? At least in my experience, the term is becoming understood more and more by the mainstream.
A bucket full of a liquid. That bucket has a faucet over top of it that fills it at x rate constantly. For disabled people it fills more slowly than normal abled people so pouring energy out is more costly timewise and must be calculated carefully.
If the original tweet was for the general audience, just replace with “energy”. That’s it. The term is more understood in our bubble only. You are suffering from bias.
Jargon is usually used to make oneself feel “in”, but it by design excludes everyone else from the conversation.
I come from a mental health background and spoons is excellent for anyone. It needs explaining, sure, but neurodivergent people can use spoons to explain the cost of their executive dysfunction, people with depression can use spoons… hell, people free from illness can use this expression, too!
I get being bitter about jargon but it’s an extremely versatile and easy-to-understand metaphor. I think the aim here should be to share it more, rather than try to label it as improper to include.
Could’ve just said effort or energy and i would’ve understood the intent of this post, I am now clued into spoon theory now though
Neither of those terms are quite interchangeable though. Everybody has low energy days, that’s relatively normal. But the word spoons is a shorthand for explaining a precious, and much more finite resource, as a way to distinguish the experience for disabled people.
But it’s not a vital nor precious resource. It’s just tangable and limited. I think that’s the disconnect.
