Let’s explore this from three different angles. The first comes out of the “six-word novel” technique of meaning making. The tradition is often (but perhaps apocryphally) attributed to Ernest Hemingway, whose response to a challenge to write a six-word novel led to the dark, enigmatic FOR SALE: BABY SHOES, NEVER WORN. The New Yorker columnist Larry Smith and others have turned six-word novels into something of a cottage industry, a form of “edutainment” designed to be both funny and enlightening.
Below are six-word novels created (and reproduced with their and their parents’ permission) by students at Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School about their relationship to technology. Readers are invited to review the list and think about which of these seems troubling? Insightful? Profound?
Technology is fun but not too much
It is changing our lives today
Technology keeps me connected with friends
A resource that provides good entertainment
It’s sometimes like a safety blanket
I use it mostly for doing homework
It makes things faster and entertains
Technology often helps me procrastinate
Technology is good but destroying generations
Technology is helpful but also dangerous
Readers are now invited to boldly and creatively try their hands at developing their own six word novel about technology, perhaps returning to their “And now” statement from the Ira Progoff activity.