what does it mean to be “meta” about something?

Question

The title. I never understood that expression… can someone help?

Edit: auto correct on ‘someone’

In: 1694

Answer 1

My Psychology teacher had a good description of what meta means. Imagine a scenario where you and another person are arguing. For example you argue with your lover or sibling. It’s getting really out of control and you just start yelling slurs instead of real arguments. Now one of you stops and says “look at what we are doing here, this isn’t us”. This person is looking at the situation from a Meta perspective. Like looking at the situation you are currently in from the outside.

At least that’s how I always imagined it