Musings: Critical Thinking in the Age of Now

Dear readers, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything, primarily due to my schedule, but, alas, here I am.  I am going to change the format of my blogging a bit.  I used to do a monthly book selection and spend every weekend delving deeper into a specific work.  I will be posting periodically about various books and authors I’ve enjoyed but not on a set schedule going forward.  The feedback I’ve received from some of you (thank you, by the way) has been that you enjoy my “musings” more than my technical evaluation of a specific work.

This weekend was the virtual National Book Festival hosted annually by the Library of Congress.  While certainly different than in previous years due to the “virtual” nature of it, I am always impressed with the theme, topics, and writers in the line-up.  Today I sat in on James McBride’s afternoon session. His authenticity came through the conversation and I was quite impressed. He quoted a statistic something to the effect of the following: “the average 60-year-old has spent twelve years of their lives in front of the television.”  Can you imagine?  TWELVE years! That is 105,120 hours of your lifetime up to age 60 and 1,752 hours (73 days) per year!  PER YEAR!!! Obviously, this resonated with me, particularly since we only own one television in our house.  Most of the time, it is silent in our home.  When it is on, it is usually in the evening for an hour or two of some old shows or something educational.  Even with that “nominal” amount, it’s 730 hours or 30 days per year.  Kind of puts it into perspective, huh?  At least for me it has…

In many ways, the television and social media have replaced good old fashioned research, self-education, exploration, and have contributed to what I (and many others) call the “dumbing down” of society.  Social media in particular has given folks some sort of pass on what used to be considered proper behavioral norms but that is a topic for another day.  I digress. It reminds me of the mice experiments where they are put into a maze and the cheese is placed at the end of the maze.  Eventually, the mice figured out how to navigate the maze and capture their “prize”, e.g. the cheese.  Likewise, it is also reminiscent of the “hamster on the wheel” analogy.  Analogies aside, twelve years is a long time to spend bingeing on the television.  Think about what you could accomplish in that span of time!

Fall is almost upon us here in the U.S.  There is that hint of it in the air here in Tennessee and next week we are in for much cooler weather.  Yes, we are in the midst of a pandemic, but I would challenge you to find ways to be safe and yet explore the world around you.  Read a book, visit a park, watch something educational, and/or pick a topic you enjoy and do some on-line research.  What I implore you to do is to save the mind-numbing, run-of-the-mill television watching for when you need a “mental” break, e.g. when you’ve worked your mind so hard from expanding your knowledge that you need to rest it.  Not dissimilar to when you’ve had a really hard weight-lifting session and need a rest day.    You might be surprised at how much better you feel, not to mention, what you might accomplish.  Be bold, be daring, and be engaged with the world around you!