"We Have A Deficit Of Wonder Right Now"

We tend to complain about children and their electronic devices, but from where I sit, it's the adults we should be worried about. 

It really wasn't that long ago that I had to be reminded to carry a quarter in my pocket in case I needed to use a public pay phone to call home. I rarely remembered my quarter and I even more rarely needed it. Yesterday, I had a moment of actual panic when I realized I'd left my smart phone at home when I went to the grocery store. What if there's an emergency? What if I miss an opportunity? I talked myself out of the silly overreaction of returning home to fetch my phone. Nevertheless, during the next half hour of shopping I re-discovered my phone "missing" at least three more times. Then when I got to the register, I had another brief panic as I reached for my phone to make payment via Apple Pay. It took me a moment to remember that I was still carrying my wallet in which I keep my debit card, something that I reckon is on the same path to irrelevance as pocket change.

When I got home, the first thing I did, even before putting away the groceries was to check my phone.

The preschoolers I teach are pre-literate, which means their brains have not yet been shaped by the process of compressing human verbal expression into a meager 26 crude symbols and a handful of punctuation marks. They are also, for the most part, pre-device, which doesn't mean they are device-illiterate, but that they don't find themselves impelled to thumb on their screen every few minutes.

Throughout the day, I check the weather, the sports scores, my messages. I take a look at news headlines, my social media accounts, my bank balance. I pay bills, shop, find my way, order takeout, and distract myself with games. I hardly consider myself a "power user." I'm just your average middle-aged person who appreciates being able to extend myself into the world in ways that would have struck the quarter-in-the-pocket era me as superhuman. Just as automobiles, corrective lenses, and hearing aids "enhance" us, our devices make us super-connected, super-efficient, and at least potentially super-informed.

If my pre-teen comic book reading taught me anything, however, it's that superpowers come at a cost. In those old Marvel Comics the most common downside of superpowers was a feeling of alienation from the rest of the world. Some of these superheroes were even ostracized or feared. Many suffered under the burden of responsibility. Their human selves were in some way or other weakened or harmed by their powers. 

"Everything is explained now. We live in an age when you say casually to somebody, 'What's the story on that?' and they can run to the computer and tell you within five seconds. That's fine, but sometimes I'd just as soon continue wondering. We have a deficit of wonder right now." ~Tom Waits

As I observe young children at play, I see pre-device humans, people who don't need authoritative answers to everything, who are perfectly fine living in a state of wonder. This is part of the price we pay for becoming superhuman. Wonder has served humans for millennia. Not knowing. Not having everything explained. Mythologizing.

I've recently begun to actively reject my superpowers for an hour or two every day, leaving the house without devices, on foot. I find a place far from home where I can sit and watch the sky and make up stories about the clouds or the wind or the arc of the sun. I wonder about the trees and what they might be thinking about me. I wonder about the birds that land in the perceived safety of my stillness. I don't call it meditation. I call it wondering. I don't know if I'm doing any healing from the deficit of wonder that came with my superpowers, but it is at least a momentary salve and a reminder that the children possess something that I may have lost. 

******

 

If you liked reading this post, you might also enjoy one of my books. To find out more, Click here! 

"Ready for a book that makes you want to underline and highlight? One that makes you draw arrows and write 'THIS!!!!!' in the margin? Then you are in for a treat." ~Lisa Murphy, M.Ed., author and Early Childhood Specialist, Ooey Gooey, Inc.

I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!