The Need for Conversation

We text, we call. We email. We use Facebook and Instagram. But we don’t converse. More and more that fact is being noticed by teachers, by intellectuals, and more recently in a book by Celeste Headlee, a radio show host. Her book, “We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matters,” sets forth the problem and what to do about it. Key to her solution is how to listen. When we think about it, how often do we listen? We don’t have to the way we currently communicate. And one Continue reading “The Need for Conversation”

Social Media Downside–A better Answer?

A law professor at Pace University noticed that the students he observed in a colleague’s classroom all took notes when the professor was speaking, but the rest of the time, when students were commenting, for example, they used their laptops to shop or check on Facebook. He then decided to ban all laptops in his own classroom. What he discovered was that when students were without laptops they interacted with each other. The discussions were livelier and hopefully more interesting. He explains in his NYT article that Continue reading “Social Media Downside–A better Answer?”