Politics, Protagonists, and Phone-Free Living

• • Whether you’re a “sit down with a hot cup of tea and read a hardcover book by the fireplace” type of reader, or a “hop in the car, slide your travel mug in the console, and hit play on an audiobook,” I think the following recommendations will speak to you. I’ve shared a personal summary and some key takeaways for each—I’d love to hear from you if you pick up (or listen to) any of these books! The Anxious Generation I sit in a very interesting spot as a member of Gen Z by birth year, but raised in a thoroughly “play-based childhood” as opposed to a “phone-based childhood,” as author Jonathan Haidt defines two very different ways of growing up. While I know of many parents who read this book out of motivation to ensure their children are raised with a healthy relationship to screens, smartphones, and social media, I found it fascinating as a member of the very generation Haidt writes about. It’s full of real examples, real data, and weaves the two together to describe a very real problem. Yet, it’s not a doom-and-gloom type of book: it’s full of tangible solutions that folks can implement at any age, at any level of society. If you’re a member of Gen Z, I recommend reading it for a deeper understanding of how we ended up the way that we are. If you’ve ever complained about a member of Gen Z, I recommend reading it for… you guessed it, a deeper understanding of how we ended up the way that we are. Regardless of your age, I recommend reading it for the wisdom it brings in how we can create a better relationship between humans and screens, for both ourselves and future generations. Digital MinimalismAlong a similar vein as The Anxious Generation, but from a different angle, Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism is targeted to busy, working adults striving to make digital tools work for us, not the other way around. Too often, we download a new app or bookmark a new website because it promises to “save us time” or “simplify our lives,” while in reality it simply adds one more task to our list or creates one more distraction for our already-frantic minds. In the midst of this chaos, Newport provides a simple, but challenging, framework for deciding what to keep and what to release: do the benefits truly outweigh the drawbacks? If you’re anything like me, you may not always think about the opportunity cost of using a digital tool, whether it’s your phone, Instagram, or even a digital to-do list. Are you benefitting from an online marketplace, but end up doom-scrolling because it’s all housed on the same platform? Is it helpful to have your tasks all in one place, but detrimental to your attention span? This book will help you answer these questions, and, while I’m still in the process of implementing the changes which come from those answers, I have a feeling it will improve your life, too. Team of RivalsTaking a genre turn with this one, a great find for any of y’all who are intrigued by history, political strategy, Abraham Lincoln, or all of the above. I must be blunt, though, this one is a hefty choice—I almost bailed on it before even starting to listen when I saw the playback time was a solid 50 hours. But, now more than 30 hours in, I can say with honesty it is genuinely interesting. While very detailed, Doris Kearns Goodwin does a masterful job at painting the picture of each key player in Lincoln’s cabinet, as well as their wives and daughters, homes and travels. She reflects on how a fairly obscure Illinois lawyer became one of the most prominent figures in American history, but bringing to light parts of his character we never learned about in history class. The Lord of the Rings TrilogyYes, this is in my list of book recommendations. Why? Because, if you read them as a kid, I think you should read them again. If you haven’t read them yet, I think you should read them. Did you catch that? Everything in the flowchart leads you back to reading them. I first read the trilogy in high school. It took me close to a year to finish the first book, several months to finish the second, and about three weeks to finish the third. While they do get slightly shorter from book to book, my reading time is, admittedly, a reflection of the action. I recall some of my siblings who had read the books already commenting about how the first one is just “a bunch of people walking, and walking, and talking some, and walking some more.” Yet, without the intricately built context Tolkien lays out in The Fellowship of the Ring, the action and character development throughout The Two Towers and The Return of the King simply wouldn’t be as powerful. All that to say, if you’ve tried to read the Fellowship and just keep getting stuck, this is my pitch to just keep trudging along, just like Frodo and Sam and company. Recently, I picked up the set again and have thoroughly enjoyed my foray back into Middle Earth. I’d forgotten how witty Tolkien is, and I will never get tired of Gandalf’s profound wisdom, reminding us that “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Thanks for reading The Next Step! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Journal Prompt of the WeekHave you been reading as much as you want lately? If not, how will you change that? Leave a comment