Palmer Trinity School

B Y A S HL E Y C H A P M A N , HE A D OF UP P ER S C HO OL I vividly remember, as a 6th grader, having to take a class scheduled only as "Library" and taught by Mr. Jackson. At that age, I suppose that not everyone found the library as a refuge from the hurlyburly of academic study and being the little fish in a big pond. Nonetheless, Mr. Jackson did his utmost to instill a love of books, learning, and literature in his somewhat recalcitrant charges. I vividly remember having to copy down (from the blackboard) the following lines of a simple poem that carries the secret of the power of the written word. Books are keys to wisdom's treasure; Books are gates to lands of pleasure; Books are paths that upward lead; Books are friends. Come, let us read. ~ Emilie Poulsson C H O O S I N G B O O K S O V E R S O C I A L M E D I A Books (and by extension — literature) do not provide only dry academic learning but reveal the joy and thrill of gaining knowledge - new vistas and experiences that teach us about the joy and challenge of growing up and that would speak to us of the need to be a functioning, thoughtful, and caring human being. But how the world has changed since those simple, carefree student days when life was slower and less demanding when we could take time to sit and read. Events and technology have wrought a worrying change in our students and the way they no longer interact with others. There was no internet, no cell phones, no constant streaming of information in a visual or pre-digested format that suggested that the skill of reading and time spent on that pursuit would be seen as a waste of time, a pointless activity, and now separates us from all that grows us as human beings. Recently I happened to watch Firing Line on PBS. Margaret Hoover was interviewing Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, about his new book which explores how social media and the ubiquitous use of cell phones has led to a mental health crisis for our youth. According to Haidt, today's youth have social media accounts making it possible to spend every waking moment online. Sadly, technology does not necessarily teach anything. The use of technology is essentially passive - children and students no longer "play" or physically interact with one another. Young people today have gone or will go through puberty on social media with a smartphone that calls them away from people and from their friends. Human beings should not grow up this way. Haidt speaks of children who do not enjoy peer interactions. "They have 500 friends. Isn't it great to have 500 friends? It turns out it's not. It turns out that what adolescents need is one or two or three, a small group of very close friends, and a small gang - and that is developmentally healthy. When kids ditched their friends in the real world and had 500 friends online they didn't get happier and better connected. They starve for social connection and feel uncomfortable when called upon to live in the world and interact with people. How does anyone survive the challenge of social media that stunts human growth and allows total strangers (ostensibly "friends" on media platforms) to influence thinking and the ways we perceive ourselves? In Frankenstein, (a novel seriously worth reading) Mary Shelley argues our human need for friendship beyond ourselves, an argument that human beings need to take seriously. It is the plea that we all have someone, some group of friends with whom we connect, with whom we talk and laugh, with whom we learn and grow as people. Early in the novel, Captain Walton expresses in a letter to his sister the single most chafing issue he deals with – that of a friend. "You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans." (Letter 2) This longing for connection, and the suffering that ensues from the lack thereof, dwells in all of the main characters but especially Frankenstein's creation himself. AND WHAT SHOULD I RE AD? WhyRead ? 32 PALMERTRINITY.ORG P E R S P E C T I V E S

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