back at home...

I am back from teaching at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, and it was literally amazing that during my full week in class in both box making and building small cabinets, there were very few smart phones in sight. My students had them turned off or on mute, and the fascination with using them every ten minutes to snap photos seems to be diminishing. Perhaps the novelty of the devices is beginning to wear off (among woodworkers at least.)

That may not be good for Apple and the other manufacturers of smart phones and similar devices, but it is a good sign for us. Technology has a way of interfering in our direct perception of things. And it too often stands between people who might be engaged in deeper relationship without the layer of technological distraction.

A report on NPR suggests that parents' addiction to their devices has become detrimental to their relationships with their kids. It is not just that young, dumb parents are leaving their iPhones in their children's hands to entertain them and isolate them from non-digital learning experiences, but that they are so addicted to being distracted themselves that they pay more attention to what they see on youtube than to the living, breathing child that they've been given the responsibility to care for. For the Children's Sake, Put Down that Smartphone!

Just like my students, I have come home with boxes to complete. I am determined that I not let them linger unfinished. I have also purchased some post office box doors so that I can make a donations box for our local library to replace one I had made years ago and that was stolen earlier in the year.

Make fix and create...