It's taken me a while to decide where I fall on this book, which is ultimately very middle-of-the-road, because while I do think it's importa3.5 stars
It's taken me a while to decide where I fall on this book, which is ultimately very middle-of-the-road, because while I do think it's important to consider the harmful effects of smartphones and social media on generations z and alpha, there's more nuance to it than Haidt conveys, and I also don't know that Haidt told me anything I don't already know or at least suspect. But then seeing this book everywhere freaks me out a little because I start to wonder if people really are thinking critically about these things to begin with? Or are we just handing smartphones to kids without any kind of education or discussion?
I, for one, think a LOT about phones and social media, both my own use (have scaled wayyyy back on social this summer, and have slowly decreased my overall phone usage over the past year) and for my kids. Like I am literally thinking about this stuff multiple times a day (how can you not?). So it's hard to wrap my brain around a book like this even being necessary. Of course, reality tells me otherwise; it's not uncommon that I come across parents who let their 10yos on TikTok. Or give their third grader unlimited access to YouTube. I polled my dudes the other day and asked what percentage/number of kids in their grade had phones. Early elementary child said a few kids in the class. Older elementary said 75 percent. Middle schooler said 85 percent. And while we have no way of knowing the mindfulness with which these parents have given their kids phones (my oldest has a "dumb" phone that only does talk and text and I have NO plan to give them a smartphone any time soon), judging by the amount of tween girls buying adult romance, we can safely say a lot of kids are using their phones largely unmonitored.
I'm not one to read "it" books of the moment, but this subject does intrigue me because I interact with a lot of Gen Z and younger millennials and have noticed what I perceive to be an alarming amount of anxiety that prevents them from daily functioning. As an anxiety girlie myself, I frequently have "Damn, I thought mine was bad," moments - it seems as though while older gens are more accustomed to pushing through anxiety when they need to (for better or worse), the younger ones tend to completely shut down rather than face something hard or uncomfortable or bad.
Haidt's thesis paints this more extreme anxiety as a result of Gen Z's parents over-protecting their kids from real world (sometimes irrational) dangers, but not protecting them from the rapid technology enhancements that have exposed them to porn online (boys) and negative effects of social media (mainly girls). I don't disagree with this, but again, there's more nuance than what Haidt suggests. I believe we have to look more at what the kids are doing online. Not all boys are watching porn, though most will be exposed to it. Some are gaming, which can be an addictive pacifier; some are falling down extreme right-wing rabbit holes; some are finding families that will accept them when the members of their household won't. Similarly, many girls might develop body image issues from social media, but maybe their anxiety also comes from a greater access to news that constantly tells them their rights are being taken away. Haidt wants to argue that systemic violence and injustice, highlighted by things like police brutality, COVID, and the military industrial complex, isn't what's causing a heightened anxiety in younger generations. But...isn't it? Smartphones provide access to more information than we were ever meant to keep in our brains at once. The result can be paralyzing.
More nuance for thought. Haidt does raise the whole "kids these days don't go outside and socialize in person anymore!" argument. Again, there is probably some truth to this. But also, some kids do both? Is it that hard to believe that kids can be glued to a screen and still have in-person social lives, play a sport, roam the neighborhood, etc.? As much as Millennials and Gen X yell about spending their whole childhoods outdoors, we sure are quiet about the fact that our TVs raised us. And if it truly looks like Gen Z and Gen Alpha are spending less time with friends and less time outdoors than we did, we could also consider the global implications of climate change and COVID, as well as the disappearance of places for teens to hang out, like shopping malls, to explain that.
Maybe I'm idealistic about the internet, sometimes. I maintain that I had the best the web had to offer, coming online as a middle schooler when it was all Live Journal and message boards and updating your website with deep teen philosophy and reviews of the latest CDs you bought from Sam Goody. Mid-'90s internet was a golden era, at least for me. I don't have any Gen Z folks in my household, but I do think I'm in a unique position, as an elder millennial raising Gen Alpha, to not repeat whatever caused Gen Z's failure to launch. I definitely agree with Haidt that that involves taking the damn phones out of schools, give kids "dumb" phones instead of smartphones, not letting young kids on certain platforms, and being mindful of what exactly they're doing online and how they're doing it. Broadly, all these things, yes. But it's necessary to look at things on a kid-by-kid basis and the quality of their online time, as well.
[Listened to on audio, would def recommend the physical book, in order to see graphs and charts from the numerous studies Haidt cites]...more
Idk why I let this sit on my shelf for six years, so much for curating a personal library to browse and read from at LEISURE, haha. With Tommy Orange'Idk why I let this sit on my shelf for six years, so much for curating a personal library to browse and read from at LEISURE, haha. With Tommy Orange's new book out, it felt time to read There There (if only to avoid spoilers on the latter in all the Wandering Stars press).
The book jumps between POVs of a large cast of Native characters in and around Oakland and culminates in their attendance at a powwow that promises to change everything. The first half of the book hinged on the shaping of Native life past and present by trauma and ongoing genocide, while the second half uses plot to carry that narrative off. Orange is, overall, a good writer, whose prose effortlessly carries the reader. Keeping the characters straight was confusing at times, as there are so many and with names starting with the same letter. There is also some character/plot coincidence one has to suspend disbelief for...your mileage may vary with that, but I'm generally good to go along for that ride if the writing is good.
Hoping to get to Wandering Stars in the next month or so, I'm excited to see where the story picks up....more
I've read several books around disordered eating and feel like I learned a lot from this one. A collection of essays that, while disjointed, covers AmI've read several books around disordered eating and feel like I learned a lot from this one. A collection of essays that, while disjointed, covers American systemic attitudes towards eating disorders, including the toxicity of diet culture, pop culture's influence, and barriers to treatment. They weren't always super focused on an overarching theme...I don't know if tighter curation could have helped (I admittedly jumped into it before realizing it was essays written over time and collected, rather than a book of essays the author set out to write). It opened my eyes to the inefficacies of treatment centers and diagnostic challenges people face due to medical bias, and I also wanted more research into ED through race and gender lenses. The pop culture discourse involving shows like Girls and Fleabag was interesting to read, though I don't know how much of a clear connection there is between them and ED.
Ultimately, this seems like a book one could pick and choose what essays to read and what to skip. Clein does take measures to reduce triggers, by not including specific details and numbers, but def tread cautiously if you are an ED survivor....more
A journalistic collection of stories accounting state-sanctioned killings of citizens in the Philippines during the Rodrigo Duterte administration's dA journalistic collection of stories accounting state-sanctioned killings of citizens in the Philippines during the Rodrigo Duterte administration's drug war. It is about as yikes as you would imagine the story of any nation on the path to autocracy. Evangelista is also interesting here as a journalist and a self-inserted character in the book. She aims to be somewhat clinical in her reporting of countless murders, yet it is easy to see from the book's outset that working as a reporter on disasters has left a lasting mark on her, especially when it comes to her home country....more
This is basically The Bear in book form?! I was kind of bowled over by how much Larue's bustling restaurant kitchen scenes reminded me of th3.75 stars
This is basically The Bear in book form?! I was kind of bowled over by how much Larue's bustling restaurant kitchen scenes reminded me of the chaos of similar scenes in The Bear (watch The Bear right now if you haven't already), and it's no surprise Larue has years of experience working in restaurants.
It would be easy to see this as a repetitive, too-long novel about dinner rush after dinner rush. But I think that repetition speaks to the overwhelm that service work has on one's life. Both because it is physically demanding and draining and because it barely pays a living wage. In living this life day after day, the narrator is constantly underwater - wired enough after shifts to go to bars instead of going home, too addicted to gambling to hold on to large amounts of money, and too tired to work on his art when he does have a day off (one day often only being enough to recharge in time for the next shift - there is a point when the narrator has the rare two days off in a row, and they are his most artistically productive days in the whole book). Simply put, it's really hard to make a life for yourself when you are overworked and underpaid.
There were a looooot of typos, and I'm not sure whether it's to do with the translation or just poor editing. Other than that, Larue writes about service work in an authentic, detailed way, and I'd def read more in that arena from him....more
Admittedly biased because I have loved Kaveh Akbar for so long, he is one of my favorite poets that I've followed from his chapbook and Divedapper dayAdmittedly biased because I have loved Kaveh Akbar for so long, he is one of my favorite poets that I've followed from his chapbook and Divedapper days, I've been waiting for this novel for so long and might have *actually* screamed when I spotted the ARC of this nonchalantly sitting in the corner, AS THOUGH WAITING JUST FOR ME *CUE DRAMATIC INTERLUDE OF DESTINY*
Akbar's prose isn't poetic, the way say Ocean Vuong's prose is, but it has a strong impact on a story that is somehow both structured and meandering. I appreciated the inclusion of the real-life tragedy of Iranian Flight 655, a civilian aircraft that was shot down by U.S. air missiles in 1988. I suspect not a lot of people know about it, so the inclusion feels important. It's a book about mental health and addiction that somehow isn't depressing, just an examination of a search for meaning in life and, perhaps more importantly, in death. It's an ambitious novel that isn't perfect, and not everything it sets out to do works, but I truly enjoyed it for that ambition and as a great start to Akbar's hopefully ongoing prose career....more
Loved the vibes. Madievsky's interview for the Otherppl Podcast gave a lot of insight, was interested to learn she is not at all like her main charactLoved the vibes. Madievsky's interview for the Otherppl Podcast gave a lot of insight, was interested to learn she is not at all like her main character, and that she took influence from Denis Johnson for the novel....more
Solid essay collection. Unique stories. You sense Fitzgerald is the kind of dude who doesn't hesitate to say 'yes' to something new, whether it be a jSolid essay collection. Unique stories. You sense Fitzgerald is the kind of dude who doesn't hesitate to say 'yes' to something new, whether it be a job, trip, chance to learn, etc., so some of these stories are wild. Some essays are entertaining, some are more of an exploration of past trauma.
Full disclosure and no joke, I've followed Fitzgerald online partly for his romantic friendship with Saeed Jones (we would all be so lucky to have such a relationship), lolol, but I'm looking to see what he does next in his career, as he's young and seemingly has time to hone his literary voice....more
I liked this for its hybrid of auto-writing and trans theory and drug hallucinations and questions raised about transitioning and just existing in a cI liked this for its hybrid of auto-writing and trans theory and drug hallucinations and questions raised about transitioning and just existing in a current society that is more accepting of trans people than it's been in the past, but also still so oppressive and violent to the trans community. Baer admits her privilege in being white and financially well-off, and not just in a disclaimer-y sort of way at the beginning, but does seem to examine or call out how trans folks without that privilege wouldn't be afforded her exact experience. This didn't feel annoying to me, the way it did to some reviewers. Overall, I think I just enjoyed the way this circled around both theory using interrogation and drug-induced, diary-style entries....more
The long and short of it is that being a child of immigrants in America is a very unique and at times confusOoof, this is a heavy memoir to sit with.
The long and short of it is that being a child of immigrants in America is a very unique and at times confusing and conflicted experience, and I suspect that only kids of immigrants will understand Brina's examinations. They are honest and sometimes brutal. The daughter of an Okinawan mother and an American father, Brina has more than just her mixed race to contend with - there's a violent history that ultimately brought her parents together, and how to consider a marriage that came from conflict between countries? Because of this, Brina ties her family's story in with Okinawan history....I can't speak to accuracy, but I found the decision to tell that side of the story (a side that arguably isn't hers to tell) interesting. I understand the inclusion, as the historical conflict deeply affects her parents' relationship, but where does one draw the line when detailing a history from a personal perspective that they weren't born into? In some parts, she switches to the first person plural "we" when talking about the history, and while I love a good POV switch, I questioned the....intent? Idk.
Brina also speaks honestly about her own internalized racism, which is another complexity of growing up mixed race. As it is, children of immigrants often find themselves in a cultural tug-of-war between the American culture they're raised under and their parents' home culture. And America doesn't always easily allow one to claim multiple identities or cultures, so you're often left feeling like you have to choose one. Living in America with a white father and Asian mother, Brina gravitates more naturally toward her father, as he mirrors society around her (speaks English clearly and is generally more assimilated into American culture than her mother). This otherizing of her mother is hard to sit with, but Brina's acknowledgment of and coming to terms with it is kind of beautiful. Her profound realization that her mother's pronunciation of her American first name is no more "correct" or "incorrect" than her father's is a small but mighty decentering of whiteness and Americanness.
This memoir is about Brina, but also about her mother, and it really captures the isolation and hardship of the immigrant experience (not that it's a singular experience of course, but I suspect many would relate to this). An important read for understanding fully what it means to come to a country you don't know and make a whole life....more
This was a ride! I'm always on the lookout for good autofiction by writers who aren't cis-het men, and Ditlevsen's trilogy lives up to all the hype. CThis was a ride! I'm always on the lookout for good autofiction by writers who aren't cis-het men, and Ditlevsen's trilogy lives up to all the hype. Covering different eras in the author's life, the three books illustrate a range of the roles women play throughout their lives - girlhood, daughter, youth coming of age, aspiring artist, adult, mother, wife, poet, addict. The turn the story takes in Dependency is honestly one I didn't see coming, a devastating showcase of addiction and abuse, and a culmination of a lifetime spent being taken advantage of by various men (as a writer, I was grinding my teeth reading about the narrator's encounters with male editors when trying to publish her work - if you know, you know).
A fantastic trilogy that will stick with me for a while, and it's nicely collected in this single volume....more
It's been really interesting to see the outside-the-box ways writers have taken on the memoir/essay (memoir-essay? essay/memoir?) genre. The way storiIt's been really interesting to see the outside-the-box ways writers have taken on the memoir/essay (memoir-essay? essay/memoir?) genre. The way stories don't have to be linear, the way essays can vary in length and style, the way a collection can cover a small time period of the writer's life, instead of being so comprehensive. Elissa Washuta has done just that with White Magic, a collection of essays anchored by a romantic breakup but that branches out into her addiction, health (mis)diagnoses, the occult, and her relationship to pop culture, often pop culture that whitewashes Native traditions.
I love that Washuta and Tin House gave this book the space to be long (400+ pages) and winding and messy. Because there are so many subjects at play, you don't get a deep dive on any of them, which I found refreshing. An essay on Washuta's experience playing The Oregon Trail 2 in relation to her own Native ancestry was powerful, but it struck me that she was just relaying her experience rather than offering some larger socio-political commentary on the problematic nature of the game. Many events, like her relationships with men, read as though she's writing them in order to process them, not to reveal some grander message. It makes sense, as the events of the book take place in the very recent past, and it gives the whole project an immediate feel, like you as a reader aren't here to necessarily learn anything, but to take in these collisions of topics in an artful way and think on them and perhaps continue thinking without ever reaching any conclusion.
As mentioned, the anchor or event that jump-started the writing of the book was Washuta trying to get over a breakup, but structurally, there's no solid arc that pinpoints an epiphany or point of moving past any conflicts. Washuta even brings this up, and I so appreciated that inclusion, as I think Western publishing is still somewhat tied to traditional linear storytelling that includes a set climax amongst rising and falling action. Washuta plays with time a lot, especially in an essay involving Twin Peaks, a show that also fucks with time. She notices a synchronicity of events in her relationship happening almost on the same day each year and structures the piece that way so you're constantly going back and forth in time and revisiting the Log Lady along the way. This book will have you questioning why so many stories are told in a linear fashion and perhaps how we're being harmed or held back from healing by trying to fit our life's stories into that sort of mold.
The pop culture elements seem more prominent than any extensive discussion on Native life, which I think surprises some people, but to me it's an example of a writer not feeling the need to write sooooo much to their identity. Maybe Washuta is as deeply affected by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's fraught relationship as she is by the cheapening and appropriation of Native spiritual tools and customs. Writers from the margins have sooooo much to say beyond the trauma of their oppression, and this book really feels like a collection of what was moving and driving the writer most at the time. Again, authenticity can be hard to come by in publishing, but White Magic really feels like a collection told in the shape and voice the author envisioned....more
Ugh, I don't know how, but Kaveh Akbar has done it again with his second collection. I love how much you can trust his lines. I love how simultaneouslUgh, I don't know how, but Kaveh Akbar has done it again with his second collection. I love how much you can trust his lines. I love how simultaneously immersed these poems are in the political and the personal and the spiritual, how they speak generously to this moment without an overt urgency, how they manage to prioritize beauty in language in the midst of all this and an at times ugly honesty about the world. He's truly doing it all, and is absolutely one of my favorite poets. Read this, read it again and again....more
3.5 stars. I don't know that this book presents any revealing information about the ways in which phones (social media, in particular) are designed to3.5 stars. I don't know that this book presents any revealing information about the ways in which phones (social media, in particular) are designed to get people addicted to them, though the first half of the book can be useful in reinforcing why and how too much phone use negatively affects our brains. The second half details a one-month detox plan to break up with your phone, then get reacquainted in a more fulfilling, productive way.
I don't know anyone with a smart phone who doesn't use it in an unhealthy way, at times, and I like that this book can be helpful to all of us, not just those at the extreme end of the addiction spectrum. The 30-day plan is a great guide that you can tool to your own personal needs. I don't feel the need to strictly adhere to it, but reading through it has helped me more clearly identify problem areas in my relationship to my phone. Most of our phone addiction issues are easy to fix, we maybe just need a good problem/solution outline like this....more
Update: Just won a copy in a GR giveaway! Much excite!
What impresses me most about Leslie Jamison is her range as a researcher and writer. Whether sheUpdate: Just won a copy in a GR giveaway! Much excite!
What impresses me most about Leslie Jamison is her range as a researcher and writer. Whether she's writing about something she initially knows little about, like Second Life, or a very personal experience like becoming a step-parent, her essays are sharp, thoughtful, and engaging. Her other essay collection, The Empathy Exams set a high bar, and I can't say I was enthralled by this book in the same way. But I'm still just so impressed by her work....more
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