From a young age, I have had to find ways to process my frustration when information is presented in a fragmented or confusing manner. In order to avoid overwhelm or even a mental shutdown, I started building tools and processes that help me hold onto coherence, meaning, and safety.

The outline below shows my sensemaking process — how I’ve learned to understand what’s happening externally that enables me to experiment with narratives that better meet my needs, especially after they’ve so often been misunderstood by others. I’m still finding structures for this, but sharing it feels like one way to open the door to conversation.

Datagotchi Sensemaking Methodology

This framework outlines the four-step process of turning personal anxiety and fragmented information into a clarified, actionable understanding of the world.

1. The Triggering Event: The initial moment of dissonance or chaos because your reality and external reality do not align.
2. Externalization: The act of turning internal, chaotic thoughts and feelings into a concrete, external document or system so as to not forget and reference again in the future.
3. Causal Analysis: The process of connecting the dots and revealing the underlying system at play. It’s where you find the causes of the original triggering event.
4. Collective Action: The application of your newfound understanding through sensemaking for a greater purpose. Your personal insight becomes a building block for the collective.

Does this process resonate with how you make sense of things? What does your own version of sense-making look like?

This framework was born from a personal struggle to make sense of a fragmented world. You can read the full story of my journey and the philosophy behind my social impact research lab (Datagotchi Labs) here: https://datagotchi.net/2025/08/28/from-personal-struggle-to-collective-rebellion-the-why-behind-datagotchi-labs/.