Tell me if you agree with the following assessment of contemporary life, and if you do concur, then let me know why you're not scared, or angry.
First, we're all moving at the speed of light, but we're not necessarily more productive. We receive more messages than ever before -- both online and off -- but they are mostly trite or trivial. Still we must take the time to scan and delete them.
Serious culture is in serious decline: museums, symphonies and theatres are struggling, newspapers are dying out, and the publishing business is contracting. Who has the energy and attention span to read a substantive book anymore? Or watch a heavy movie? Maybe our parents, if they're lucky enough to be retired.
There's no point anyway, is there? Instead of reading the whole paper, we can scan the headlines on our PCs. Rather than sit through an entire movie, however great, we can just catch the best scenes on YouTube.
There can be little doubt that culture today is increasingly short-form, and almost entirely "pop" in nature, with not much "crackle", and precious little "snap". Interested in the arts? Well, go to Huffington's entertainment page and check out how Amy Winehouse may have beaten up one of her fans in a drug-induced rage. Or how Julia Roberts could not prevent herself from spouting four letter words on late night TV. Or the latest behind-the-scenes machinations on everyone's favorite reality show. Does everyone care but me?
Those of a certain age can still remember life before the internet, when we received markedly less communication, but of a more meaningful sort (it was called a "letter"); where we actually took time to read good books, and where the love of language was celebrated in the written and spoken word. We can still hold fast to these conventions, which offer a healthy counterpoint to this increasingly banal and fragmented contemporary world.
But what about our children?
When not overly stressed about their studies or their futures, our kids are mostly on X-box or going to the movies to hear potty humor or see people and things blown up. Or they may be texting one another: "u r 2 cute." They don't seem to read much unless they are forced to for school. My impression is that their expressive language skills are weaker than ours were, since they've grown so accustomed to speaking in cyberspace shorthand...ever notice how most every sentence they utter contains the word "like"?
Also, as a film commentator, I cannot help lamenting how many adolescent age kids don't know who Charlie Chaplin was...or for that matter, Gary Cooper or James Cagney.
The list of my shortcomings as a parent could fill ten more blogs, but one positive aspect was a conscious effort to give our four kids a cultural grounding that would expand their horizons beyond the slick, superficial here-and-now.
From infancy, they were constantly hearing all different kinds of music, from standards to jazz, blues and soul to classic sixties rock. They were also exposed to black and white movies -- the Marx Brothers, old Errol Flynn swashbucklers, To Kill A Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, and more.
The key here was not worrying about the kids' initial reactions to what they saw or heard. They sometimes claimed to hate what they were experiencing, because at the time it seemed alien, and they felt coerced. However, ten years later, they admitted they appreciated it... even then.
Also, I made our children read recreationally. I remember my brother and I had to be forced- my father would have said "trained"- to do it as well. On a rainy day in summer, we went to the library, found a book, came home and went to our respective rooms to read for one hour. No choice, no debate. Nearly forty years later, reading remains an integral part of my life- and a continual source of pleasure and comfort.
What worked for us in this area was tapping into our kids' distinct identities and interests. One son loved basketball- we gave him Bill Russell's biography. Another wanted to be a stand-up comic, so he got a book by Woody Allen. They read these titles because there was something in it for them, but at the same time, they were unconsciously cultivating an appreciation of what literature adds to the human experience.
Last week, my sixteen year old was proudly showing me his Louis Armstrong iPod playlist, while his younger brother raved about Steve McQueen's performance in Bullitt. Then my daughter confided how much the film Marty had taught her at an early age about the joy and heartbreak of romance.
That is the delayed, but no less sweet, reward of assuming an active and early role in indoctrinating your kids to the best of arts and culture. In doing so, you are boosting their ability to think critically (eg, know junk when they see it), but most important, you are helping enrich their quality of life, both now and down the road.
Besides the capacity to love, what better gift could we pass on to them?
Follow John Farr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BMBFarr
My 15 year olds weren't 12 hours old when I started reading to them. They weren't walking yet when I started taking them to "hands on" art exhibits. They weren't 5 yet when we moved for the first time... from the US to Sweden. At 15 they have lived in the US, Sweden, Netherlands, Israel, Saudi Arabia, England and Canada; mainly because of my job taking me all over the world. They appreciate Opera, the Ballet, Plays, books, concerts, various different types of art and a wealth of other things in addition to some of those things that "average American teens" seem to enjoy. On the other hand they simply do NOT understand the pre-occupation of the "average" American Teen when it comes to cell phones, MySpace and video games. They are unique unto themselves and I wouldn't have them any other way.
I have encouraged personal responsibility and tried to teach them that no matter how "bad" they think THEY have it there is going to be someone else whose life is worse than their own. I have encouraged learning, independent research & healthy debate.
With the glut of nothingness and blah-blah, I am equally concerned if there is a place left even for serious artists who do more than produce Judd Apatow comedies or highly-compressed porn rock. Is there anyone left on the planet who will ask a 16 year old to sit down and try to feel the score for "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" or decipher the production design of "The Corformist"?
We must find time to pass our true gems down. If the kids don't take them, well, it's their world. I am so full and fortunate for the art that found me as an isolated rural kid surrounded by wacko Baptists. I trust that somehow the kids immersed in millions of 30-second spurts of blah-blah will find their own way.
In my home with one 17 biological boy and a 17 year old exchange student, if I don't physically have an alternative activity for us as a family I can not, no matter how I beg, plead or ask, get them interested in anything other than screen time. (my own son reads quite a bit on vacations, however)
But, if I'm tired or want some "me" time or don't have the energy for making cookies, watching blockbuster movies, or don't have some great Sheppard Fairy exhibit to go to (thanks Boston ICA) then, I literally let them ruin themselves. I know this is not ideal, but I can't always be their catalyst and they don't really seem to have drive or creativity much else.
So different from when I was a teen and my friends and I found every and any possible excuse to be out of the house on some crazy adventure or prided ourselves on finding and renting the most obscure art house films we could get our hands on. (I never really did understand "Liquid Sky.")
makes me feel sad...and old.
Our children will also soften and wisen as they age. They will also worry about where their kids are headed, and if they will be alright. So far most of us have come through intact.
It's a balance.
I'm still young enough that I remember my teen years vividly, so I try to get in as much quality, non-couch potato time as possible with my girls, as I know once they're in high school they're going to prefer holing up in their rooms or doing things with their friends. Family time will be lame.
Cell phones, though... my two will be getting them in the next couple of years, and all I have to say about that is "parental controls". Yes!
You probably grew up hanging out with people more like you, as you got older you were exposed to less sophisticated people, obviously younger... and now you're in the "younger generations are stupid and lazy" club...
I've met plenty of older people who lack intelligence, creativity and anything resembling "serious culture."
I think part of it is teaching everyone to make conscious choices. The problem with all the stimuli is that it leaves us little time or room to determine if it is something that we want. Teaching people to connect to self without distraction and all the noise would help us balance the speed and intensity of our culture.
Oh indeed? Then perhaps someone could explain to me why Americans under the age of 40 sound like six year olds. I worked in a department staffed almost exclusively with college graduates. Listening to my younger co-workers was positively painful. They seemed to have the vocabulary of grade school children. As Mr. Farr notes, the word "like" pops up in every other sentence and apparently "awesome" is the only surviving adjective denoting approval left in the English language.
We won't even go into the issue of dealing with the dog's dinner they made of written communication. The idea of an introduction, an exposition and a conclusion obviously isn't taught in English classes any more.