Time Off from the World of Things I Can't Do Anything About

"I'm in awe of the news junkies who can watch three screens at once and maintain their up-to-the-minute data without plunging into despair or cynicism. But I have a different sort of brain. For me, knowing does not replace doing. I find I sometimes need time off from the world of things I can't do anything about so I may be granted (as the famous prayer says) the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

--Barbara Kingsolver, "The One-Eyed Monster, and Why I Don't Let Him In" in Small Wonder

It was a few years ago now I was talking to one of my friends about the information age and the guilt (and, as Kingsolver here adds, the despair) it can so easily bring about. A world of instant communication means that it can easily feel like we should be up-t0-date on everything all the time because we can be. That up-to-date-ness can, in the wrong circumstances, become a sort of passive despair, in which we spend much of our lives hearing about other lives, many of which are sad ones we can do very little about.

A world of instant communication, as Kingsolver implies, also means that we must narrow down our attention to those things that matter most. Of course, the challenge is to keep that latter part--things that matter most--and not shift it into "things I'm most comfortable with." The danger is to narrow down only to the things and the people we like, not allowing ourselves to be challenged by serendipitous chance encounters or by the things and people that we're uncomfortable with.

The challenge, therefore, is to stay aware of the world, but to balance that awareness with action, with our own contributions and participations where we can. A key to this, I think, is to fight back against the constant input, taking back moments for reflection on the things we're absorbing. The best actions often begin with stillness--something that despite all the noise around us can be remarkably easy to take back when one gives an effort.

On the whole, as Kingsolver suggests, the serenity prayer is more important than ever in our information age. And her suggestion that knowing should not replace doing is a good reminder to me, not just as an information consumer, but also as an avid reader and an academic who spends much of my time absorbing information and stories in the worlds of books.

It's a good reminder to me to join the conversation as much as I listen in, to take time not just to ponder, but also to talk to people, to write down and polish my thoughts and then to seek to get them out there in the world. (Of course, it also reminds me that there are other, even more physical actions I can take, and that I should occasionally get out in the world and take them.)

Video: The Impotence of Proofreading By Taylor Mali

Having read some results of over-dependence on computer spellcheck functions while grading English 110 papers, I found this YouTube video quite funny. The tool definitely only does what you ask it to... And it's a phenomenon that teachers wouldn't have had to deal with nearly as much 15 or 20 years ago.

Thanks to Jodie for sharing the link.

Ah, those Newfangled Typewriters!

"'Have you some more typing to do tonight, Miss Murchison?'

"'Got to do the whole bally thing again,' said Miss Murchison. 'Left out a paragraph on page one--it would be page one, of course--and he wants the tripe round at Hanson's by 10 o'clock.'

"Mr. Pond groaned slightly and shook his head.

"'Those machines make you careless,' he reproved her. 'In the old days, clerks thought twice about making foolish mistakes, when it meant copying the whole document out again by hand.'

"'Glad I didn't live then,' said Miss Murchison, shortly. 'One might as well have been a galley-slave.'"

--From Dorothy Sayers' 1930 mystery novel Strong Poison

Clearly, while our technology has changed a bit in the last 70 or 80 years, the argument about whether things have gotten better or worse has stayed pretty much the same...

Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles

I love this "medieval helpdesk" video (in Norwegian with English subtitles) not just because it's hilarious (though it is), but also because it's a reminder of something we often forget--that once the now-familiar conventions of the book were as new to people as IM or texting is to those today.

The book, too, is a technology, one that changed how we think in many ways. Ways that we often forget when we're considering how newer media, and how we use them, are shaping society. For instance, did the widespread use of the book after the printing press create introverts? I've been reading Walter Ong on how the book and book culture changed things--I'm sure I'll post commentary on that soon.

Copyrights and Creativity: "A Fair(y) Use Tale"

This 13 minute YouTube video (which pieces together Disney cartoon clips to speak about the state of copyright today) not only raises interesting ideological questions, it also proves that didacticism and creativity can definitely go together when done well. It also proves the continuing power of editing to shape original material into something entirely new.

Thanks to Cindy for sending me the link.

A Link In Honor of the Reason I Haven't Been Posting Lately

Websites help solo travelers meet like-minded locals: This article talks about ways that websites can lessen loneliness for travelers (in "G-rated" ways). A commentary on how the web interacts with "real-world" socialization...

I don't have much more to say about it than that at the moment--just wanted to post a link on traveling in honor of my last month's activities.

A Confession and an Announcement

I have a confession and an announcement to make. Neither of these may be all that startling to my readers who've heard me talk about them in person, but I thought I'd share anyway.

First, the confession. One of the main reasons I created this blog is because I was thinking about doing a PhD in Communications. I wanted to record my thoughts surrounding my areas of interest so I could get a sense of the threads I was most interested in, and as a bonus, maybe start a discussion around some of them.

This confession leads to the announcement: Starting in August, I will indeed be starting a doctoral program in communication research at Purdue University in Indiana. I'll be primarily working in the area of Media, Technology, and Society, hopefully focusing on the ways we write and read in a technological age.

What this means for the blog, I'm not entirely sure yet. But I somehow think I'll have more material for it than ever.