Disengaging from the news

I find myself skipping a lot of articles as I read the newspapers each morning. I don’t read news from social media. I even turn off NPR now and again as the news stories become redundant. I don’t have cable TV and I mostly watch the streamed local newscast just for the weather.

Am I becoming a less caring person in my old age by disengaging from national and international news?

Part of my disengagement is made easier by the sheer repetitiveness of mass media. Just how many stories about new military actions in Ukraine do I want to read? How many shootings in Minneapolis should draw my eye? How many idiotic things said by Trump, Greene, or Santos should I spend time engaging with? Should I be tracking daily the rise and fall of COVID cases, stock market changes, or legislative actions (or inactions)? How important is it that I, as a Minnesotan, should be watching weather events in California?

OK, for the people directly involved, most of these are things they should be well aware of. As they impact me or those about whom I care, now or in the future, I should maintain factual awareness, if for no other reason than to help inform my vote in the next political cycle. But am I an unfeeling thoughtless human for just skimming the headlines and not reading every paragraph of every story?

One concept that may apply to what one should read is the relationship between one’s “Circle of Influence” and “Circle of Concern” described by Stephen Covey in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Most people’s Circle of Concern is far larger than their Circle of Influence. (I am concerned about global warming, but my ability to stop it is relatively small.) Covey states, “Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about.” Should this advice also apply to what one spends time in information gathering?

Perhaps “disengagement” is not a fault, but a strength. Why waste one’s time and emotions on things which one can do little about, have little impact on one’s life, that have no purpose but to rile the masses?

I will probably read the daily newspaper on my deathbed if newspapers still exist. I will keep listening to NPR news until my children take away my car keys. But I will continue to be selective about what I spend my time trying to comprehend.

How to machine-proof student writing

Two bloggers for whom I have great respect have both expressed concerns about new AI products that write well. (See: Scott McLeod Playing Around with ChatGPT from OpenAI and Tim Stahmer ChatGPT to English Teachers: Don’t Panic)

A primary concern is that new AI programs can now write “papers” that are indistinguishable from those written by humans - including one’s students. While I have always been a proponent of tools that can help a writer do a better job - spelling and grammar checkers, for example - I see these new AI programs more like a type of plagiarism. Someone (or something) writes, and then you pass it off as your own without attribution.

As a former English teacher and a front-row observer of the accessibility of online sources of writing that are easy to copy and paste, I’ve thought quite a lot about how one prevents students from simply copying another’s work. And it isn’t taking away the internet or using plagiarism-detection programs.

Back in the dark ages of the early 2000s, I summarized some of my thoughts in an article published in Kappan - Plagiarism-proofing assignments. My major argument was: 

… our time as educators is better spent creating assignments, especially those that involve research, that minimize the likelihood of plagiarism in the first place. Rather than making assignments that can be easily plagiarized and then contriving methods for detecting or reducing copying, why not do a little work upfront to design projects that require original, thoughtful research?

I described 16 possible elements of assignments that discouraged plagiarism and provided a rubric to evaluate one’s own assignments. (Are rubrics still a thing?) I expanded this article and more in my book Teaching Outside the Lines, Corwin, 2015.

The short answer to “defeating” these new AI writing tools is to demand that the assignment be personally relevant and be, in some way, creative. My old pal HAL may know a hell of a lot, but it doesn’t know me nor, do I think, does it know how to think outside the circuit boards. Even with my limited knowledge, there are important things I can write about that AI can’t.

Now is the critical time for educators to ask themselves what humans, even ones with poor writing skills, can do that even the most sophisticated machine can’t do. Create bad puns? Describe how a topic may impact one’s family? Combine two fields of knowledge to come up with a creative idea? Show emotion?

I hope no readers of this blog ever suspect the entries are machine produced. C3PO would never write such ridiculous prose.

Graphic source

Goals - 2023

Inspired by Successful Teacher blogger Pat Hensley, I am going to do something different - actually articulate some goals for the year. Most of these, I admit, are not new nor very ambitious. But perhaps writing them down will provide an incentive to accomplish them.

1. Travel to at least one new country (TBD)
2. Participate in at least three challenging hikes and two challenging bicycle rides.
3. Cook at least one new recipe each month.
4. Add “mini” exercise routines to my usual workout. (Do five squats each time after I get out of my recliner?)*
5. Expand the time spent on my YMCA days to a full hour by adding walks around the track to my weight routine.
6. Read at least 52 books - and not just "junk" reading.
7. Continue to follow my Rules for Retirement.
8. Reflect on my strategies for achieving consistent happiness.
9. Get all my old family photos scanned. (I converted all my VHS home movies to digital in 2022)
10. Visit my 90 year old mother once a month and continue to call her twice weekly.
11. Contact my children once a week.
12. Lead a hike or bike ride for my outdoor club each month.
13. Participate in a hiking trail maintenance project.
14. Explore at least one new volunteer activity.
15. Write at least one blog post a week. 
16. Finish editing my book of extractions from the Blue Skunk blog
17. Begin a collection of posts about my travels.
18. Be proactive in staying in contact with good friends through calls and get togethers.
19. Be more mindful of how I react to the stupid actions of others, especially careless drivers. Be more compassionate toward those who need my help.
20. Refrain from looking at the status of my IRA balance more than once a month.

Overall, my major goal is finding meaning in retirement. How do I balance my inherent laziness and selfishness with purpose? How do I measure my physical strength, my mental capacity, my creativity? Perhaps I these tasks should be my stated as goals.

*Suggested by a columnist who was inspired by the book Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. On my reading list.