Reclaiming Conversation
Ratings15
Average rating3.3
While I agree that certain boundaries have been crossed when it comes to phone usage in social situations, something is amiss with this book.
First, every chapter was just a rehash of the previous (people use their phones during [insert social situation here], they should put them away!). I understand that older generations are experiencing frustration with the changing social climate, but this book reads like my 70-year-old father's conniption fits over the altered commercial breaks during Wheel of Fortune .
I also found the quotes from high school and college students to be laughable. It was like reading the script of a bad 50's teen film where none of the characters use contractions and make bizarre exclamations like “gee whiz!”. I have never heard a fellow millennial - or any young adult - speak the way these teenagers were quoted. It was grating and downright distracting from any salvageable wisdom in the book.
I didn't bother to finish this book, so here are some of the more amusing quotes within the first few chapters for your reading pleasure:
• “S'up, dude?”
• “We are not as strong as technology's pull.” (yes, this was a “quote” from a student, not part of the text itself)
• A fourteen-year-old girl describes the strain of having to do all her class reading online. “Once I'm on the iPad for assignments, I'm messaging my friends and playing a game. It's hard to stay on school things. I don't see why they got rid of books.”
Or this somber excerpt that reads like a Daniel Steele novel:
A high school senior tells me he fears any conversation that he cannot edit and revise. But he senses its worth. “For later in life I'll need to learn how to have a conversation, learn how to find common ground.” But for now, he is only wistful. He says, “Someday, someday soon, but certainly not now, I'd like to learn to have a conversation.” His tone is serious. He knows what he does not know.
And this absolutely glorious fabrication:
“When I ask, “What's wrong with conversation?” answers are forthcoming. A young man in his senior year of high school makes things clear: “What's wrong with conversation? I'll tell you what's wrong with conversation! It takes place in real time and you can't control what you're going to say.”
If anyone has met a high school senior that speaks like a WWII veteran fuming over ‘kids these days', please let me know.
There is a lot of food for thought in this book, especially when it comes to use of technology and how both kids and adults interact.
I would have given it four stars, but it was just a bit longer than I felt like was needed - the Cliff Notes version would be just as impactful.
Still, for parents or counsellors, anyone looking to engage in conversations or just sick of their own “iPhone-induced ADD” – there's something here for you!
Every educator, K through graduate school, should read this book. It is a fascinating description of how life is being changed, not in a positive way, by electronic devices.