12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke

"Owning a smart phone is similar to dating a high

 maintenance attention starved partner."

Every few years I read a book on how technology affects the brain so I can remember why to limit screen time. This year it was Tony Reinke's 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You. Frankly, I was surprised at how pro-technology the book is. 

Reinke contends that technology is morally neutral and that it began in the garden of Eden. Technology is the reordering of raw materials for human purposes.... Musicians re-order notes and sounds into music. Novelists re-order the raw material of human experience into stories. Technology pushes back the results of the Fall (less pain in childbirth, easier ways to plant and harvest, etc.) He admits that technology unhitched from fear and obedience to God quickly becomes a pawn in human power plays and uses the tower of Babel as an example, but, says Reinke, it is the human heart and not technology that is at fault. (If you've read anything by Paul Kingsnorth or Jacques Ellul, you will not agree that our constant upgrading in mechanization is "neutral" or, even, indeed, a sign of human progress. But I digress.)

In each chapter Reinke highlights one way in which our phones are changing our habits. In Chapter 1, he shows how we have become addicted to distraction; in Chapter 2, he writes about how our super-connectedness has robbed us of real relationships. Chapter 8 deals with easy access to porn. You get the idea. 

Although I didn't agree with everything he wrote, I always appreciate someone who makes me think through my habits with more clarity (and less self-delusion!)  

In the chapter on how our phones are making us illiterate, Reinke writes, If you want to internalize a piece of knowledge, you've got to linger over it. But we have been trained not to linger over digital texts. Our lack of self control with digital "marshmallows" malnourishes our sustained linear concentration. Deep reading is harder than ever. What we have today is not illiteracy, but aliteracy: a digital skimming that is simply an attempt to keep up with the deluge of information coming through our phones rather than slowing down and soaking in what is most important. He contends that this way of imbibing the written word leaks over into our Bible reading. The more time I spend reading 10-second tweets, the more it affects my attention span, weakening the muscles I need to read Scripture for long distances.

My favorite emphasis of the book was on how online distractions rob us of our ability to experience deeper pleasures: [As] we feed on digital junk food, our palates are re-programmed and our affections atrophy.... The more we take refuge in distraction, the more habituated we become to mere stimulation and the more desensitized to delight. We lose our capacity to stop and ponder something deeply, to admire something beautiful for its own sake. By seeking trivial pleasures in our phones, we train ourselves to want more of those trivial pleasures. These become the only pleasures we know. Our capacity for deep enjoyment is thus destroyed.

One of the biggest ways my phone has changed me (even though I limit my time on it quite a bit) is that I now have the attention span of a gerbil. The irony is not lost on me that I listened to this book on my phone at 1.25 speed so that I could get through it quickly and move on to other things.

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts you have on this book or on your own digital habits.

Blessings, 

Poetry 101 - From A Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have been a huge poetry fan ever since my fourth grade teacher introduced us to haikus, cinquains and limericks. Later it was an integral part of our family's bedtime routine to read one or two poems before the stories. I've read many a poetry anthology over the last five and a half decades, but I always return to the lovely, lyrical simplicity of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

Recently I memorized "From a Railway Carriage" (included below) and was stunned to discover, as I repeated it daily, how masterfully Stevenson had composed each rhythm and sound. When you say the opening lines, you can hear the "ch, ch, ch" sound of the train. And the whole rhythm of the poem replicates its steady chugging. 

What I love most is how Stevenson juxtaposes the speed with which the train is going (which makes the countryside appear to be moving swiftly by) and the actual speed of the items the train is passing. He does this beautifully in the penultimate line: Here is a cart runaway in the road, lumping along with man and load. Just brilliant! 

If you aren't yet a poetry fan, I strongly suggest reading (or better yet, listening) to A Child's Garden of Verses. You might just change your mind about how "boring" it is. 

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle

All through the meadows the horses and cattle;

All of the sights of the hill and plain

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles.

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And here is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill, and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone forever!

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in March 2023

I am surprised that I read anything at all this month, but in between classes I was able to finish Introduction to a Devout Life by Francis de Sales and 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You. These High, Green Hills (third in the Mitford series) by Jan Karon was the highlight, but Wired Love was also a fun read. Strange title, I know, but it makes more sense when you know it's a vintage novel about two telegraph operators who meet "on the line." My review is here. (All other reviews are forthcoming.)

A heavy teaching schedule meant that I watched a lot more fluff than usual. I enjoyed my favorite movie, Dear Heart, but don't bother looking it up. No one who I have showed it to has liked it. My thoughts on it are here.

The other movies were black-and-white films on YouTube: People Will Talk, (Cary Grant as compassionate doctor), Practically Yours (WWII feel-good movie with Claudette Colbert), and Suddenly It's Spring, which starts out as a fluffy movie about marriage and divorce, and ends up being more substantial. The last two starred Fred MacMurray, who is certainly not handsome, so it intrigues me that he played so many romantic leads. I guess I could say the same for Humphrey Bogart! 

Blessings,

The Priorsford Trilogy by O. Douglas

If you are looking for light-hearted (yet literary) domestic fiction, look no further than the writings of Anna Masterson Buchan (1877-1948). She was the sister of John Buchan (famous for his mystery novels), which may be why she used the pen name of O. Douglas.

Penny Plain - Of the eight novels I've read, this is still my favorite. Jean Jardine lives in a small town in Scotland and is bravely raising her three brothers on very little money and lots of love. Delightful references to books, mouthwatering descriptions of tea parties, and a fairy tale ending make this a delightful read. My extended review is here.

Pink Sugar - Kirsty Gilmour is another plucky heroine who is making the best of a tough situation. After the death of her only remaining parent, she moves to a small town in Scotland to begin life anew. A more detailed review is here. (At the time I am writing this post, Pink Sugar is $2.99 for kindle, but can be bought in a bundle of five Buchan novels for just 99 cents.)

Priorsford - Written ten years after Penny Plain, Priorsford doesn't have quite the same "joie de vivre" as the first book. I gave it only two stars, but now I'm wondering if that had something to do with how low-spirited my reading life was during the pandemic.

The House that is Our Own is not an official part of the Priorsford trilogy, but its protagonist travels to Priorsford and meets all the main characters of the previous books so it's a treat for fans of the Priorsford novels to get a glimpse of Jean Jardine twenty years into her marriage. My review is here. 

I am working my way through AMB's canon and look forward to reading the last four novels as well as her two biographical books, "Unforgettable, Unforgotten" and "Farewell to Priorsford." 

Blessings,

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon (Mitford #1)

I devoured all the Mitford books years ago. According to my book log, I read this first one in 1998. Oddly, I only blogged about one of them (book 12 of 14). I haven't read the last two, so I'm looking forward to that AS SOON AS I re-read the first dozen. 

It was lovely to visit Mitford again this week. In At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon writes charmingly of the trials and tribulations of the folks in a small imaginary town in North Carolina. I wouldn't denigrate it by calling it Christian fiction. Yes, it's clean, and includes talk about God and prayer, but there are no syrupy sweet characters and no easy answers. The main character, Father Timothy, is an Episcopal pastor who has a vibrant faith, but who often struggles with burnout and insecurity. 

And in spite of the light tone (often conveyed through dialogue with hilarious townspeople), Karon manages to pack a lot of suffering into her books. In this one, there is a drug-addicted mom, a woman dying of a heart condition, thwarted love, a prison sentence and a diabetes diagnosis. Yet Karon still manages to deftly weave hope and laughter into each chapter.  

The quirky characters are fleshed out in such a way as to keep them from being caricatures. Take Miss Rose for example. She's a cantankerous nut job who wears a mixture of army surplus and rummage sale clothing and lives in a huge, crumbling house with her husband, Uncle Billy. As the story progresses, we discover that she is bi-polar and makes life miserable for Billy. But he is determined to protect her and love her because "that's what he promised to do." 

It's a lovely book and I can't wait to start the sequel!

P.S. I am stunned at how expensive these are Amazon. Thankfully, I picked up all my copies at thrift stores.

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in February 2023

I read a mixture of theology, light fiction and ancient classics this month. 

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh is a fun mystery and In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy Sayers is a pleasant set of short stories. I read Aristotle's Poetics for the Lit Life podcast and also a children's version of the Iliad by Jeannie Lang. Light fiction included O. Douglas' A House that is Our Own, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also read The Awakening of Miss Prim and the delightful At Home in Mitford. (review forthcoming) Once a year I try to read a title on John Wesley so I read John Wesley and William Law by Green. I liked it, but think it would be boring to any but an avid Wesley fan.  

As far as movies go, we had our yearly viewing of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. I enjoyed the novel Busman's Honeymoon last year so I watched the black and white movie on YouTube. Lord Peter was played by an American so you can imagine what a desecration it was! I watched it anyway. But worse disappointments were on the way. On the Wings of Eagles is a sequel to Chariots of Fire that barely mentions Liddell's faith and the final episode of season 3 of The Chosen fell flat for me. Is it just me or are seasons 2 and 3 just a shadow of the fine productions we saw in season 1? 

Have you read any of these books? Watched anything that you can recommend? Thoughts on The Chosen?

Blessings,

How to Read A Devotional Classic According to John Wesley

(Photo by Aaron Owens at Unsplash)

It is well known that John Wesley, the 18th century revivalist, was an avid reader. Although a self-proclaimed man of "one book," he read hundreds of others and often edited and condensed Christian classics for the common man. 

In his introduction to Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, he gives "a few plain directions on how to read this (or any other religious book) with an eye to growing spiritually."

First, assign yourself a specific time each day.... We give ourselves plenty of opportunity for eating, why not adequate time for spiritual reading to improve our soul?

Second, prepare yourself for reading by purity of intention, aiming to improve yourself. Ask God to enlighten your understanding and open your heart for receiving what you read, so you can know what God requires of you and then do what He says to do.

Third, do not read out of mere curiosity or too quickly; rather, read unhurriedly, seriously, and with careful attention. Stop now and then to process fresh insights.... Read some passages over and again, especially those that deeply concern you yourself; then ponder how to put them into practice.

Fourth, work at putting yourself in a frame of mind that corresponds with what you read. Otherwise, it will prove empty and unprofitable, while it only enlightens your understanding, but fails to influence your will or emotions. Therefore, lift up petitions now and again for God's grace. Write down quotable sayings; treasure them in your memory bank so that when temptations come, you have a quiver full of arrows against sins you may be addicted to. 

Fifth, conclude your reading time with a short prayer to God, asking Him to preserve and prosper the good seed sown in your heart, so it will yield fruit in its season.

Blessings,