Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi

I am doing a short post about two books which discuss technology in very different ways.

BORED AND BRILLIANT by Manoush Zomorodi is a fascinating read and one that is so popular I am having difficulty getting a hard copy from the public library.  Zomorodi, who hosts the podcast Note to Self, challenges readers to explore “how spacing out can unlock your most productive and creative self.” She cites social science and neuroscience research plus comments from over 20,000 listeners about their concerns regarding cell phone use.  Their top 3 concerns? “It’s messing with my productivity; I feel addicted; and it might be affecting my health.”

Ultimately, Zomorodi suggests a seven step plan involving tracking digital habits and modifying them through avoidance or elimination challenges (no use while walking/driving, a day without pictures, delete an app, no email replies for a day). Instead, she advocates really observing one’s environment and creatively building on newly found free time and any sense of boredom. I found her description of living with increased tech consumption to be apt: “my brain was always occupied, but my mind wasn’t doing anything with all the information coming in.” Similar changes in habits are discussed in this article about increasing creativity from Entrepreneur magazine. BORED AND BRILLIANT seems like a thought-provoking resource for some of our Health classes and has the potential to mesh well with work that our Social Work Department and advisery rooms are exploring with regards to mindfulness. Imagine the original thinking and problem solving we could encourage!

CAN YOUR SMARTPHONE CHANGE THE WORLD? by Erinne Paisley had the potential to be a primer on activism and social justice.   It definitely tells her story of creating a paper prom dress and donating proceeds to the Malala Fund in order to promote education for girls around the world. However, it felt somewhat juvenile and shallow at times with an over-emphasis on social media, including separate chapters on Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.  There may be some interest by students, but I think those will tend to be younger. For older high school students, turn instead to Girl Rising, available as an excellent film and accompanying book. 

Update: on a related topic see Nicholas Carr’s “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds” from October 6 in The Wall Street Journal or the iGen review elsewhere in this blog.