Below is an excerpt from a recent article in the Houston Chronicle about how much time we waste “selfing” in social media and how it has turned even 140 words as too much when a photo or video will do. We are now spending more time taking photos and videos than we do living the moment.
I secretly read literature, something I have learned over the years to keep under wraps, especially here in Texas, so this paragraph below caught my attention as one of those things I have known all along but never articulated because I was sure I was the only one who knew. I found myself very amiss in that after I Googled “literature empathy” and found screen after screen of studies, articles and books saying the same thing.
In a 2013 study hailed by novelists, researchers from the New School for Social Research reported a correlation between reading novels and increased empathy.
Literary works offer us the opportunity to imaginatively linger on (rather than simply glimpse or swiftly scroll through) others’ experiences of the world. But we can only seize on this opportunity if we’re able to pay attention — if we allow ourselves to slow down long enough to absorb what we observe.
Taking the time to engage with prose, poetry and even photography has certainly allowed my students and me to carefully investigate the contours of a range of experiences, and how these experiences matter in relation to current events.
If we’re too busy snapping and promoting photographs, we’ll miss what’s happening around us. And we won’t be able to give the world the empathy and attention it requires and deserves.
Also far far better than reading and rereading the same old book over and over and over until one’s brain synapses float away into the firmament.
In fact, I am now reading a rather unknown work “literature” by Charles Dickens, the 900 page “Martin Chuzzelwit.” It’s laugh out loud and moves right along. Quite a bit of “And so’s yer old lady!” in 19th century thesaurus helped English. The great gift of Dickens is that because most all his novels were first serialized and illustrated, he wrote in a way to keep the pages turning with anticipation. I can also say that some books changed my life, in fact the “Dora chapters” in “David Copperfield” probably saved my marriage. All our partners have flaws that can often overwhelm us, but if we dwell on the offsetting assets we can make it.