My review of a Librivox recording of The Odyssey, by Homer (transl. Samuel Butler).

For my podcast assignment I listened to book one of The Odyssey. The host presents the reading rather well. There is plenty of pauses to let the listener comprehend what is happening. This is extremely important in this case because Greek mythology is very dense in its names and concepts. The wording of the translation, by Samuel Butler, it’s definitely true to the original but perhaps too much. Some of the wording it’s quite complex and confusing. The reader does a good job with the pronunciation of these complex phrases. I wish there was some sort of music and more transitions to break up the reading more. Occasional background music would also act as great support of the reading and would even fit perfectly well, for example when Phemius was playing the lyre during the banquet when the suitors sought Odysseus’s wife. The reader also does her best of giving the different characters different voices. This helps you remember who is talking through the long monologues of Homer. The audio quality is not of the highest standards. Some of these could be easily fix, for example, a pop filter would help reduce the harshness of words starting with the letter “p”. The host presents the reading well, she reads with emotions. This could be improved upon by adding music and other background sounds. They would add a much needed atmosphere that would make listening more engaging. I knew I was going to enjoy this podcast and I am very fascinated by the topic of it. 

11/7 Appiah and His Examples

Kwame Anthoy Appiah’s main goal of his writings was to argue that all people on Earth have an obligation to behave morally. Appiah believes that it does not matter what the reason for being moral is, as long as everyone is behaving morally. He argues that the best starting point of this way of life is with conversation. An example that Appiah uses that helps his readers understand this point is his story of traditions during his father’s time in Ghana. Women at that time were forced to be circumcised. In Western culture, this seems horrific and demeaning but at the same time many men are also circumcised. There is a gap in belief and culture throughout the world. Appiah recommends that we start conversations about traditions and beliefs of other regions and religions to learn about one another and reduce the gap. This will form a more united world, connected for one goal, common good.

11/5  Lukianoff and Haidt’s “The Coddling of the American Mind.”

My education has not prepared me for adulthood. My highschool education prepared me for college. There was no practical, life skills being taught in my school. My parents would tell me stories of their classes where they learned how to cook, pay bills, sew, and other practical knowledge. The closest I got to a class like this was in 8th grade when we were taught how to balance a checkbook. Maybe it was because I went to a private, college prep high school where their main goal was to prepare us for college but I don’t think I should need to go to a trade school to learn life skills. Luckily, the majority of my classes were not censored due to people being ‘triggered’. Nothing I learned about was cut or manipulated to protect someone’s feelings. We disscussed hard topics such as discrimination, wars and even school shootings. We addressed current political hot topics and learned about them. The same was true in my freshman year at UNE, although many of my classes did not deal with offensive topics the ones that did did not shy from them. My english teacher proudly read literature from a time where common terms are now offensive. Some people in my class were uncomfortable but they understood that it was just part of the work. I believe that if we cover up pieces of the past that are offensive, we will eventually forget about them and repeat the same thing. It is important to recognize offensive parts of the past, not honor them. 

10/28 Henig

There were many aspects of Robin Marantz Henig’s “What Is It about 20-Something” that I connected with but perhaps the piece that stood out the most to me was when she addressed the topic of markers of adulthood, specifically how scattered they are. Before reading this I knew that there was some degree of variation in the age limitations of our society but what I did not know was just how scattered they really are. I know about the basic ones such as the drinking age, voting age, the age one can get their licence, etc. but what surprised me is the age which children are counted as depends to the IRS or that children can stay on parents health insurance until 26 or even up to 30 in some states. Another, far more relevant, age limit that I did not know about is that parents income is taken into account for financial aid up until 24. This large degree of variation made me realize that our society as a whole cannot decide when the real start of adulthood is. Why should we expect adult-like qualities out of individuals in the emerging adulthood stage when they are still almost fully depended on their parents? Henig also mentioned this in her text that parents do not want their children to go out more or be less dependent. Henig writes, “And another of Fingerman’s studies suggests that parents; sense of well-being depends largely on how close they are to their grown children and how their children are faring- objective support for the adage that you’re only as happy and your unhappiest child.” This supports the idea that parents are closest to their children and want to help them. This could backfire, causing their children to mature slower.

10/8 Richtel

In both of his articles, Matt Richtel writes about the harmful effects that technology can have on our lives. Most importantly he focuses on how computers and phones are a source of distraction amount people today, young and old. These phones act as a distraction not just from being productive but being an active member of society. In his article, Attached to Technology and Paying a Price, Richtel mentions the life of a man called Mr. Campbell whose life and livelihood revolves around technology. Richtel mentions many ways how technology has consumed Mr. Campbell and his family. For example, Richtel writes, “When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it. Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while sifting through old messages: a big company wanted to buy his Internet start-up” (Richtel). Despite his massive focus on checking his emails and constant monitoring of his screens, Mr. Campbell almost failed to accept this once in a life time offer. As a matter of fact, it was his such heavy involvement in the virtual world that caused him to miss such an important email. The obsession with screens does not stop at Mr. Campbell, it extends to his family. His wife and kids are also constantly tied to their devices and have also reported its impacts. The screens also impact precious family time that is necessary to younger children. This idea of technology interfering with valuable interactions that need to happen is also present in Turkle. Both Turkle and Richtel mention the idea that technology is having a massive impact on the empathy of the people in todays world. Turkle focuses on the developmental impacts of technology and how they impact and will continue to impact society today

10/3 Turkle and Twenge

                One point that both authors make is the decline of face to face human interaction because of cell phones and the digital world. In her article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean Twenge writes, “The number of teens who get together with their friends nearly every day dropped by more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2015; the decline has been especially steep recently… The roller rink, the basketball court, the town pool, the local necking spot—they’ve all been replaced by virtual spaces accessed through apps and the web” (Twenge). What Twenge is referencing here is the massive, recent, decline of face to face interaction amongst teens. She makes the statement that this decline is caused because teens do not need to leave their beds to have ‘social’ interactions, they can just go on their phones and be instantly connected.

                Turkle makes a similar remark in her book “The Empathy Diaries”. In her book, Turkle states, “Even children text each other rather than talk face-to-face with friends – or, for that matter, rather than daydream, where they can take time alone with their thoughts. It all adds up to a flight from conversation…” (Turkle). Here Turkle is providing the same evidence as Twenge, the idea that children are spending less time have physical interactions with each other. She takes it a step further by mentioning that they are also spending less time with themselves and their thoughts, which is a dangerous concept.

                I personally believe that technology and that ever-connectedness of out generation is a double-edged sword. On one hand, I agree with Twenge and Turkle that human interaction is extremely valuable to humans and especially young children who are still developing. Conversation is necessary to gain valuable people skills that are valuable throughout life. But I also think that technology and the greater sense of connection can be used to assist those who are physically incapable of having a face-to-face conversation with someone. For example, I text my girlfriend who is over 150 miles away from me and I am so grateful that I can text her when I need to. I only see her a couple times a month so our interactions are limited and texting allows us to continue our relationship even though we are hundreds of miles apart. Texting is by no means a replacement for face-to-face conversation, but it is a great alternative when it cannot be had.

10/1 Sherry Turkle on Conversation

Sherry Turkle brings us the point that even though humans are so connected and having conversations constantly, none of them are conversations that improve our lives. She mentions, “Face-to-face conversation is the most human – and humanizing—thing we do” (Turkle 378). Through these conversations, humans develop the ability to listen and the capacity for empathy. They also bring happiness through the joy of having our voices and ideas heard. Conversation can also be held with ourselves, increasing our self-reflection. Unfortunately, these conversations are a thing of the past and Turkle has reason to believe this is because of technology. Instead of having complex, face-to-face conversations humans have begun to have emotionless conversations through the digital world. When talking to someone face-to-face, one needs to carefully think about what they are saying and deal with the consequences of our words, when texting we can take time to formulate our responses and carefully pick and choose what we will say. Turkle also makes the point that many of these conversations over texts or other digital means make superficial acquaintances, not friendships. She references a case in which middle school students from Holbrooke school were not communicating with each other and seemed almost void of emotions. She remarks, “It is a struggle to get children to talk to each other in class, to directly address each other” (Turkle 380). The lack of interaction is not the only aspect of technology that harms people, its predictability can also affect us in the outside world. These impact what a true conversation is. At the heart of a meaningful conversation lays empathy, deep connections, understanding, and trust. 

9/12/19 Sanderson reflection

Catherine Sanderson brings up a wide variety of helpful tips for the natural human pursuit of happiness in her lecture “The Science of Happiness.” These points range from internal tips such as changing your disposition to the world, to external tips such as having high quality relationships. It was this idea of high-quality relationships that resonated with me. Throughout my life I was constantly pressured by society to have as many friends as possible because that was what everyone else was doing. If you didn’t have a large friend group you weren’t considered a ‘cool kid’ in my middle school. I was always and still am a person who only has a handful of close friends who I could depend on. Sanderson is not the only person to state this fact. Waldinger also mentioned this in his TED talk about the ongoing life study. With these two professionals discussing this idea, I have found new strength to stay steadfast in my beliefs.

9/10/19 Comparing Waldinger and Brooks to Gilbert

Waldinger and Brooks provide contradictory views on the idea of happiness when compared to Gilbert. One perfect example of this opposition is on the topic of children providing happiness. Gilbert believes that children do not provide happiness. He says that the idea that children bring happiness is a mere social construct. Gilbert even mentions that parents become less satisfied when they have children. Brooks has a drastically differing opinion and experience. In his article “The Moral Bucket List” Brooks is discussing radiant people and the various aspects of them that makes them so uplifting. One of these is the concept of ‘energizing love’. In this section, Books tells of a woman name Dorothy Day whose life was drastically altered from the birth of her daughter. She is quoted as writing, “If I had written the greatest book, composed the greatest symphony, painted the most beautiful painting or carved the most exquisite figure I could not have felt the more exalted creator than I did when they placed my child in my arms.” For me, this one quote had a larger impact than Gilberts whole section on the topic. I am typically a person who believes in facts and numbers but this made me realize that love and happiness cannot be quantified. This idea was reinforced for me when I watched the Ted talk “What Makes a Good Life” by Robert Waldinger. In his ted talk, Waldinger talks about a study that he is a director of. This study began with over 700 teenage boys from Harvard College and the slums of Boston in the 1930s. The focus of this study was to gauge what made people happy in life. After many years of studying these men and their families, the results of the study were this; the happiest men didn’t have the most money or the most fame, they had the richest relationships. This is a good accompaniment to Brooks’ idea that some people radiate happiness.  It is people like this that provide lifelong happiness to anyone around them.