Enhanced English Teacher

I recently read an excellent article titled “The End of Solitude” by William Deresiewicz posted online at the Chronicle Review.

The article brings up valid concerns about our growing dependence on technology and the need to remain connected.  According to Deresiewicz, the preceding generation wiped out boredom by switching on the television.  The current generation is curing loneliness with text messages, facebook, and Twitter.   What is the price for instant connection with 500 friends on social networking sites?

It is possible we will lose the ability for uninterrupted self-reflection.

Deresiewicz’s article provides seven printed pages of dense contemplation for a generation that he claims skims due to habits formed while clicking from link to link on the World Wide Web.   He also points out that five minutes on a website is an eternity for the modern reader.  Maybe this is true.  When I reviewed Google Analytics, I found that readers spend approximately 6.40 minutes on my website, but maybe that is all I am worth in a world full of information on the next page.

The article also claims that “we no longer believe in a solitary mind,” but is a networked mind necessarily negative?  I encourage my students to collaborate using Google Docs and wiki pages.  I hope that they will learn from one another and use technology to do it.   I also recently read a post titled, “eBooks Change the Way We Read, Thoughts?“  If you scroll down to the section titled “You’re Never Alone,” you will discover Mr. Johnson’s thoughts about the future of online books.  He claims, “Google will begin indexing and ranking individual pages and paragraphs from books based on the online chatter about them.”  Therefore, it will be possible for individuals to participate in close readings and discussions of passages, paragraphs, even well-written sentences with the world.  Johnson calls this future phenomenon a “global book club.”  Participating in a discussion of this scope requires concentration and analysis in order to provide new insight and depth so as to be included within the network of discussions.  Maybe the competition for inclusion could elevate the thought processes of this generation.

As far as combating loneliness with the tech gadget that is easily accessible in one’s pocket, I agree that it happens.  I have an iphone with Twitterfon, email, and other applications that connect me to the rest of the world.  Do I think that it has distracted me from deep introspection and contemplation?  Maybe at times, but I know I am capable of putting away the gadgets and spending time thinking and focusing inwardly.  I have observed my students doing this as well.  When I assign a difficult piece of reading, the room becomes muted as students struggle and wrestle with the text.  As I observe, I notice students circling, marking, and starring ideas as they participate in a  silent, one-on-one conversation with the written words in front of them.  This personal struggle is an important part of the process before the class can come together and share in a discussion, especially if we plan to take the discussion to the web for others to read.  My students have told me that they are more careful with their writing when they know the world can read it, so I readily encourage them to share in an atmosphere that promotes global dialogue.

Perhaps reaching out to offer many, maybe even most, of our words to the world is not private enough or Thoreau-like as Deresiewicz points out, emitting a lack of restraint or reserve, but to horde ones thoughts and contemplations would also rob the world of those contributions.  Consider some of our great communicators and the gifts they have left the world.  Several websites have Thomas Jefferson’s letters cataloged and other websites have quotations, some attributed to Jefferson while conversing casually with company over dinner.  Most likely Jefferson would have connected with the world through a blackberry or website if those options had been available to him, and surely, he would have been able to maintain his ability for self-contemplation while also communicating with the world more efficiently.

Instead of avoiding introspection, this generation has the potential to balance the diverse methods of communication that intrude on the self with the moments of solitude that are necessary to enhance the words they share with the world as they collaborate and network towards a greater mind.