Suicide and the Modern World

News is out this week that the number of suicides among children rose steadily over the past nine years. This unsettling news compounds continuing increases in the number of suicides in the USA over the past thirty years.

You might wonder what this has to do with Old Fashioned Joys, exactly. Well, let me tell you.

A few months ago, I came across a review of the book "The Inflamed Mind" by Edward Bullmore. In his work, Bullmore posits that inflammation happens when our bodies are stressed, one way or another, and that this inflammation can make us act just as though we are sick.

What do we do when we are sick? We self-segregate, go off to be alone, and rest. These things are evolutionary advantages for any population -- if sick or stressed individuals stay with the group, they risk undermining the group as a whole. If they opt out, the group will be ensured of its health and survival.

Following this logic, depression and suicide are the evolutionary cousins of laying on the couch with a cold. The extremely sick and stressed get depressed (spend more time alone, have no interest in the group, sleep a lot or remain extremely weary to the point of insomnia) and the most sick and stressed among us simply exit this world to protect the tribe.

In a modern world, full of pesticides, chemical-additives, sedentary behavior, and high-paced and structured living, inflammation is up. Our bodies interpret this greater inflammation with weariness, assuming we are sick and stressed. Should we then be suprised that rates of depression and suicide just keep going up?

The solution, me thinks, is Old Fashioned Joys. That is, we need to reduce the inflammation exacerbated by modern living. We need more walking, more cooking at home, more face-to-face socialization, less screen time, and more time with real, live nature.

That's right. In out-moded ways of living, we may just find the keys to a much happier, healthier world, and lower rates of sickness, depression, and suicide. Take that under consideration, why don't you?

The Analog Life

There is a worthwhile piece in the New York Times today about the power of downshifting your digital life to an analog one. The article is by Cal Newport, who's newest book, Digital Minimalism, is a handy guide to reducing your reliance on Internet 2.0.

In today's piece, Newport describes his request for a group of volunteers to reduce their screen time. He finds that the volunteer pool is larger than expected, and that the benefits of reduced digital time include myriad analog benefits, from more intential learning to greater real-world social contact.

I think its interesting that Newport points out "there is no downside" to this digital diet, but he doesn't go one step further, and point out that there is a very serious downside to the digital life. Of course, he hints at it when he mentions that, among the youngest and most e-addicted, the benefits of an analog life appeared to be the most profound.

You can read more of Newport's pierce in today's Times by following this link to the complete article.

Mr. President, Tear Down this Fire Wall

Even the most nostalgic must admit that good and bad leaders are to be found throughout history. What this antiquarian longs for, though, is a return to leaders who espouse American values.

The news feed coming into my home these days is quite troubling, and not because of the dastardly deeds of some far off country. Instead, its the near-treasonous disregard for our values by which our own nation is led.

In the past, American leaders, good and bad, universally acknowledged this nation's commitment to long held values, like fairness, hard work, and thrift. Not so anymore.  Now, its every man for himself, and fear rules the day.

I've been watching old videos of Ronald Reagan, one of our Presidents' with the greatest ability to sell America on itself. Oh, how I long for the days when he was Commander in Chief!

Maybe its the fact that he lived through the Depression and WWII, or maybe its all those years of acting classes -- whatever it is, Reagan talks about America with the same sincere reverence one talks about their one true love!

Here are some of Reagan's words, from his first inaugural address, to inspire you as to what we can expect from an American President, if only one from the past:

Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom. 

To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.

As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it—now or ever.

Main Street is the Best Street

I sit on the planning commission in the suburb where I live. This is a frustrating experience.

Its frustrating because this suburb, like so many others, has adopted a planning ethos flush with modernity. My suburb is made for cars, and it comes with the ample parking lots, deep setbacks, and lack of walkability common to these types of locales.

As usual, the past is instructive - but ignored.

In the past, our city streets had limited setbacks, narrow roads, and broad sidewalks. In short, they were ideal places to navigate on foot, or bike, or by streetcar. When I suggest that my city adopt this sort of approach, if only in small amounts, I am looked at quizzically by my fellow commissioners and citizens.

I wonder, though, if these people have looked around at what they have created? The main road by my house is hideously ugly -- rife with characterless buildings straddling a freeway-esque road and oriented for use only by automotive users.

Ironically, these same citizens take vacations to big cities and little beach towns made in an entirely different image. Its the image our forefathers used to build their towns for generation upon generation.You know the one -- shops and homes closely abut the sidewalk, which itself straddles a narrow road lined with trees.

We vacation to "old-fashioned" places, but fail to infuse their best features into our own. Its a shame, methinks, and I'm doing what I can to change hearts and minds on the subject. I hope you will, too. Why? Because, old fashioned joys are the wave of the future.

The Taste Makers Were Warned

After I decided that I needed to investigate more traditional means of living, I naturally began to look for others who might belong in my tribe. Enter Andrew Keen.

Mr. Keen is a writer, thinker, and professor with the interesting opinion that Internet 2.0 - the social internet of Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube - presents about as many problems as it creates. He has compared today's technology-soaked world to the Gilded Age, when companies grew big and rich while distributing negative externalities around the country.

Mr. Keen is no luddite, he insists, but, rather, someone who supposes the current system can be improved upon. In my own review of his work, I was fascinated to find this speech he gave to Googlers back in 2007.

In it, Mr. Keen warns the very people who were creating today's tech landscape about all of its many foibles. This includes the possibility that bad actors will manipulate people; that news media will suffer and die; and that culture, in general, will see a dumbing down of discourse.

Of course, the brilliant minds at Google were having none of it, as you will see in the linked video. They questioned Mr. Keen's notion that Internet 2.0 is fundamentally different from more traditional media forms. But, then, we know by reading the papers remaining today who was right and who was smug, don't we?

Living In the Past is Devine

For many years, I have valued simple ways of living and looked on with concern about the increasing complexity of modern life. Many cynics have scoffed at my notion to assume earlier ways of existence, in the face of "technological progress." However, I choose to scoff at the cynic instead, and this blog will chronicle my thinking and behavior on the matter.

To acclimate the reader, below is a list of some things I am "for:"

• Bricks & mortar retail
• Old radios
• A limited number of nationally-available tv stations
• Classical architecture
• Hand-made items of most varieties
• Tradition
• Baseball
• Catholicism (though I am personally agnostic)
• Sewing
• Gardening
• Book-making
• Model T's
• Moldings
• Old Master works of art
• Newspapers
• Hand-written letters

I am hopeful that this blog will help me connect with other people who find joy in simpler and older ways of being.

Before you comment, "But isn't that ironic?" allow me to remind you that modern technology has killed the readership of printed classified ads, leaving me with few alternatives to this less-than-ideal medium.

Perhaps this blog can help me restore in number the use of these lost arts.

Cheers!

Katie