Our constant connection to the world has us consuming endlessly, whether that’s social media, news, or video feeds. Even the barrage of incoming text messages we receive is a further entrenchment that our minds have defaulted to standby mode, waiting for the next thing to come in so we can respond.
Sometimes it comes as an active response (replying, commenting, etc.), but more often it remains a passive one that has us considering it for a moment before ignoring it completely. The latter, unfortunately, has trained people today to simply ignore requests and abdicate responsibility by assuming that if they just don’t reply to anything, it’ll go away without any consequence. That is a personal pet-peeve of mine, but I’ll save the ranting for another time.
While it may be easy to point the finger at technology and say this is a new or recent phenomenom, education has been plagued by this for quite some time. There is a curriculum to meet and there isn’t enough time to digest each of its parts before moving on to the next. Sometimes the pieces require an active approach, but most of them are passive.
“Here’s the content. Got it? Great. Moving on.”
That’s why I have envy for Math program in Japan who choose to go narrow and deep with their content as opposed to wide and shallow. This is something I would love to see replicated across all disciplines. Mind you, some of the best teachers do this anyway without drawing attention to themselves.
On a much broader scale, what all this leaves out is time to think.
If you consider that many of the greatest thinkers, inventors and artists spent each day going for a walk, or bike ride in Einstein’s case, you see the one consistent habit. It’s spending time consuming, then giving time for the brain to think.
Consider the insights that come about during a long car ride—we often refer to this as “highway stare,” but the revelations that come about are interesting. It’s an active meditative state that simply allows the mind to wander and see where it will go. And if it goes nowhere, that’s fine as well.
I mean, how often do we get to a point where we can just be in the moment without putting pressure on ourselves to gain something from it?
However, the greatest value of taking time to think is it gives us time to react appropriately, allowing us to control the narrative of our lives rather than having it fed to us by society.