Escaping to Redefine
Have you ever been caught scrolling on social media in the middle of homework? In Jenny Odell’s first three chapters of her book, a concept that really stood out to me was the fact that the media plays a key role in society today. The media and social media both play a big role that affect young students. We are constantly wrapped up in something that is happening on instagram, snapchat, twitter, and other platforms like that.These platforms tend to attract most young adults and there is not really an escape from it. I will mention escaping, but also having to come to terms to reunite with our society. Despite the fact that networking is very helpful in communication, psychologists and sociologists claim that there are many negative effects in social media. Students also have been impacted from the media and that is something that also has been included. Once you get sucked into the media and our society, it is a constant checking of notifications and a constant distraction from our society.
Odell mentions someone who has a story of how he has dealt with his escaping just to reunite with his form of reality. Thomas Merton was a poet who rejected the noise of mid-century America to become a Trappist monk. In Odell’s story he becomes someone who enjoyed being able to have a retreat. Odell uses Merton to demonstrate how necessary silence is to our lives and how purposeful retreats should be balanced with engagement with one’s fellow man. “Removal and Contemplation were necessary to be able to see what was happening, but the same contemplation would always bring one back around to their responsibility to and in the world” (Odell 59). Odell wanted to prove that yes, you can go on a retreat, but you are not escaping much because you eventually have to go back to the capitalist world that we live in. Merton is thinking the same thing as well, by removing yourself it can be a really good thing, but you will still have to come back to this world that we live in. Odell uses Merton in a good way which makes her ideas to escape this reality even better. Within reading Odell’s three chapters, she mentioned escaping reality when life gets tough. Leaving society could potentially be another detriment on our young lives as well.
Some hybrid reaction is needed. We have to be able to do both: to contemplate and participate, to leave and always come back, where we are needed (61).
I agree with what Odell has said. I think that it is good to get away and escape from capitalism, but we also need to stay true to society and live like the way it is. Society and the way we live life everyday is not really changing unless you change it yourself. The things you do everyday will continue to be the same unless you physically change it. There is always a need to find the good in things and I am a firm believer that whenever there is bad, there will be good that will come to follow. Merton explained that he had to remove himself for a little to be able to create ideas and thoughts for what he writes, but he would always come back to reality to face the real world. You dig yourself into a deep hole that is evidently very hard to get out of. Becoming so stressed about school and grades can cause a major detriment on mental health. Many students would think that they had to escape and take a break from the real world. Here is how we apply Merton and relating his story to the media.
Odell’s plan is not merely to turn off one’s phone during dinner or finally quit Facebook, nor is she interested in “self-care.” The kind of withdrawal she advocates for doesn’t involve loungewear or snail masks. It’s instead about being able to more clearly think one’s thoughts and meaningfully connect with others apart from the internet. When Odell counters Merton she mentions the fact that the media and internet can have a harsh impact on us. The media still continues to have a huge impact on our lives and Odell explains it well in chapter two. It is something that we would never expect is happening, yet it continues to happen everyday. “In other words, digital distraction was a bane not because it made people less productive but because it took them away from the one life they had to live”(Odell 34). These words hit a part of me that I have not felt before. I think these words were very powerful because this just shows that distractions especially through social media, take us away from the life we are truly supposed to live. We are supposed to be doing whatever we want with our lives with no stress. At least that’s the reality that I want to live. I do think that the media has a huge impact on all of our lives today. Time has become dulled into the blunt capitalist measure of whether or not one is making money. This feeling has bled into our personal lives, with individuals compelled to incessantly post something, anything, to social media, no matter how banal, reactionary, or poorly thought-out, in order to maintain personal brands. Personally, I think that the media and social media have had a detriment on my learning environment. The reason I say this is because I am one of the people to become so easily distracted from doing something so simple like any homework assignment. I do a little bit a day but I know I should be doing way more because I have every chance to get ahead on my work but I get so side tracked so easily. I have been working on some ways to fix it and it has gone better but this just goes to show that becoming distracted happens to everyone. It is taking us away from the little things in life that create the great life that we want to live. Escaping the media is something that can have a positive impact on making our lives better and honestly, a much better way to live.
Odell has looked at these concepts in both the negative and positive ways and I think she brings up some important pieces to this. Our brains are being fried everyday in so many different ways. Everyday we are assigned work that can potentially be very difficult to do. Although it is a very good thing to be challenged, sometimes when things get too challenging, we tend to give up. There has been a lot of research and studies that universities have put a ton of stress on students. It is causing a major effect in students’ mental health. I think Odell explains it really well in this chapter. She emphasizes, “It’s a testament to this toxic “grind or die” atmosphere at universities that, even in the face of major illness, we put the pedal to the metal and continue to drive our health off a cliff” (Odell 87). This is a direct quote coming from Odell that has everything to do with this society. I completely agree with this statement. It is the fact that students at colleges are constantly stressed and constantly doing something that has to do with school. It is taking up our lives and it is impacting us directly in a bad way. There has been a lot of data that has been collected from young adults and it has definitely shown that we tend to become distracted very easily. In general, this age does become distracted from a lot, but since social media, it has increased the ability to focus in school. Odell has gone back into her recent chapters to talk about some of the things that are well explained. Something that has a direct effect on students is the fact that social media has a huge impact on us. We are faced with these distractions everyday and I think Odell took note of that. “In chapter 1, I mentioned Berardi’s distinction between connectivity and sensitivity in the After the Future. It’s here that we see why this difference matters. For Berardi, the replacement of sensitivity with connectivity leads to a “social brain” that “appears unable to recompose, to find common strategies of behavior, incapable of common narration and of solidarity” (Odell 81). Everyday we are assigned work that can potentially be very difficult to do. This can lead to a direct cause of stress and other anxieties. Many students become so stressed, they tend to show their anger and take their anger out on their teachers. “Knowing this, I can forgive my students for getting frustrated that my art classes aren’t “practical” in any demonstrable sense” (Odell 89). When students are given a complicated task and find trouble with it, we tend to become very frustrated quickly. This directly impacts how much stress school can put on us as students. In the middle of page 87 Odell explains that “if enough of us start living this way, then staying up late isn’t just about pursuing an advantage, it’s about not being made vulnerable”. I do think that he brings up a good point about this. If we continue to have all of this affect on our mental health, it will start to become a bigger situation, and problems can start to break out. The vulnerable part comes to play because sometimes, students tend to become very easily distracted with other things and then they save things until the last minute which is not good. Social media has a direct impact on us students and it is taking a downfall on our health. Now, more than ever, mental health has a very big stereotype as a bad thing. To Odell, she writes a lot that has to do with mental health and how people tend to cope with it. “We need to be able to think across different time scales when the mediascape would have us think in twenty-four-hour (or shorter cycles, to pause for consideration when clickbait would have us click, to risk unpopularity by searching for context) when our Facebook feed is an outpouring of unchecked outrage and scapegoating” (Odell 93). Odell definitely has a positive outlook on life and I think if she continues to do the little things like this it will domino effect us all in a great way.
The media plays a huge role in society today. I think in Odell’s first three chapters she expresses herself and uses other stories to give us a perspective that we have not seen before. I know there is a lot about social media in our lives now, but I think continuing to talk about it is something that is important to me. I think Odell does a great job in these chapters talking about life and how we can make it better. Something that is highlighted is the fact that when you escape the realistic world we live in, you have to reunite and come back to society so yes you can retreat, but you will eventually have to reunite. There are always ups and downs, but there is always a better outlook on things.
Works Cited
Odell, Jenny. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House, 2021.
