Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention,

on purpose,

in the present moment,

non-judgmentally.

 

—Jon Kabat-Zinn

Claudia L’Amoreaux

Mindful Digital Life

Birds

On a scale of 1–10 with 10 being seriously hard….it’s a 15

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

In my eBook, Parenting Adventures in the Digital Realm, I introduce the practice of Co-Creative Conversation:

Take a minute to consider a conversation you’ve had with your kids that went really well—any conversation, not just about technology or digital life. Bring to mind the qualities that were present that contributed to the success of that conversation.

We’re talking about building a family culture of genuine conversation about our lives in the digital realm—creating a safe space to test and clarify ideas, to try new ideas on, where over time, through the conversation itself…we can develop more mindfulness…in particular, a curious and kind inner voice that can notice, reflect, and choose.

I consider these elements the basic ingredients for Co-Creative Conversation.

Co-Creative Conversation is a practice. In my experience, when you come to the conversation with these basic ingredients, and just show up over time, magic can happen.”

I call Co-Creative Conversation a practice because by building a family culture of genuine conversation about our lives in the digital realm, and creating a safe space to test and clarify ideas, we are developing an essential 21st century skill to help us talk about not just the daily experiences of our digital lives—the extraordinary and the challenging—but we are growing our skills to talk about the very difficult topics that require us to engage them. On a scale of 1–10 with 10 being seriously hard…I encountered a topic this week that is probably closer to a 15. Two technology writers, Nellie Bowles and Michael H. Keller, wrote a piece for The New York Times on video games, online chats, social media platforms, and sexual predation, published on Dec. 7, 2019. It’s part of a larger series the Times is doing. WARNING before you read it: it includes graphic descriptions of some instances of abuse.

I’d really rather be writing about birds or books this week, but I’m sharing this because I think it is important for parents to become more informed about this very serious issue. I am not suggesting this article is in any way appropriate to read with kids. I am suggesting that it is important for parents and educators to understand how these situations can arise and consider deeply how to talk about it with children and teenagers proactively. It will demand creativity and I suspect it will demand courage, gentleness, and compassion. This topic is not new to me. I was aware of it as a significant issue when I was working with educators and youth in the 3D internet between 2006 to 2010. What these writers do in 2019 is walk you through how predation works with different ages of kids and on the wide range of platforms we have today. After reading it, bring to mind other situations in the world that present dangers and how you prepare your kids to be safe in those situations.

SPEAKING OF BIRDS & BOOKS

Birds: This might just be Board Game of the Year. Wingspan is a game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and The New York Times did a great profile of her, “She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off.”

Books: A list of 15 Outdoor and Nature Books for Young Children by the team at one of my favorite communities, She Explores. I can’t wait to receive my copy of the Dave Eggers book illustrated by Angel Chang, Most of the Better Natural Things in the World. A tiger roams through landscapes that introduce young readers to different geographic elements, from archipelagos to lagoons and gorges.

As always, thank you for reading. 


Often engages in haunting duets…

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

Great horned owl at twilight, sitting on a Joshua tree in the Mojave desert, USA. 
Photo by Jessie Eastland, 30 July 2017, 19:53:34

As I write before dawn this morning, I hear the interlocking songs of two Great Horned Owls. Even though I knew the sound of these birds in advance, I confirmed it with the Merlin Bird ID app, using it as much just to practice as to hear the song in the recording. Here is the description:

“Large and widespread owl with distinctive ear tufts. Found in a variety of habitats from dense woods to prairie and deserts with at least some trees. Also, found in wooded towns and suburbs. Typically well-camouflaged dark brown overall, but varies in color. Often engages in haunting duets with males and females hooting back and forth. Preys upon a variety of animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles.”

I’m a “wooded town” dweller. Though I often see deer and wild turkeys, and a very, very occasional fox wandering the streets when I get out early enough, I am 5 minutes from cafes, grocery stores, and a bustling main street. I hear the owls on rare occasions that grace my days.

After I walked through the bird IDing process, I clicked the confirmation button “This is my bird!” and received the message: “Thank you! Your response has been recorded to improve Merlin’s accuracy. To save to your eBird Life List, submit this with the eBird app.”

I mentioned in my post last week that I would write about the next step from identifying birds…to stepping into your Citizen Scientist self and sharing your observations. In this post, I’ll introduce you to eBird…and the eBird app.

Merlin Bird ID and eBird are both projects of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Here is the description on the eBird website:

“eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. A collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users, eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.”

To get started, download the eBird app (available for iOS and Android) and begin to play with it. As with anything new, practice and patience are required, so give it little blocks of time to explore and learn your way around the app. Investigate how eBird uses the data from citizen scientists. If you’d like to take it a step further, sign up for the free course on eBird. Visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website in one of your family technology conversations. Challenge each other to identify the birds around you. We can make a difference in the extraordinary loss of bird species underway—by using these digital tools and becoming skillful citizen scientists.

NOTE: When I use the Merlin Bird ID app, I turn on location services in the Privacy section of my settings. You use Location Services when you drive using the map on your phone. I turn Location Services off when I am not using it for the app or for mapping. And I promise, I will write about iNaturalist soon.

Great Horned Owl perched on top of a Joshua tree.
Great Horned Owl nest, Carondelet Park, St. Louis, MO. 
Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren 20 February 2017, 16:39

Birds have been making headlines

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

Page from my mother’s book, The Art of Audubon, a gift from my paternal grandparents on her birthday, June 7, 1980

I don’t want to lecture people about saving the planet. I want to share with them the joy of the natural world. It’s where we belong. By looking after it, we’re looking after ourselves.

—E. O. Wilson, naturalist

Working in my kitchen a few days ago, I was startled by the appearance of a woodpecker just out my window. It was working its way up the trunk of a young oak tree. I’ve heard woodpeckers high up in the Eucalyptus trees out my door but I’ve never seen one so up close and personal. I tried to make mental notes quickly—size, thick white stripe down back, red strip on back of head (I now know that’s called a red hindcrown spot)—before it flew out of sight. I turned to the stack of bird guides on my desk—first checking Sibley Birds West. Lots of woodpeckers. All side views. I checked the next book in the stack—National Geographic’s Field Guide to Birds of Western North America (a gift some years back from good friends of mine). And there was the view of the Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens, from the back with that thick white stripe I was looking for. And I understood why my mother had so many bird guides. 

Birds have been making headlines, heartbreaking headlines. For example, New York Times, September 19, 2019:

Margaret Renkl, “a contributing opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South” wrote this piece 10 days later. She has a list of actions we can take, making the point that we are not powerless.

I have something to add to Margaret’s list… 

Download the Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID. Play around with it with your kids. Pay attention to birds around you. Next time you see a bird you don’t know, open up Merlin and give it a try. Experiment. Challenge each other to find and identify more birds. Check the shelves of your local used book store for bird guides. And get ready for the next step, sharing your observations with iNaturalist…stay tuned.

Merlin BirdID


What I am reading

Do you have a Fortnite-playing tween or teen? Then you probably know about the black hole…

and Chapter 2…

Best Podcast Sound Bite

Jordan Shapiro, author of The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World, riffs about Fortnite

When the inflow of content is designed to trigger The Click…

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

Mural by Josef Norris, 2007. Terrace Park, Albany, CA. Photo by Claudia L’Amoreaux 2019

Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention,

on purpose,

in the present moment,

non-judgmentally.

—Jon Kabat-Zinn

I’m working towards a podcast. It’s one of those projects that seems to have a life of its own. It’s working on me, really, rather than I’m working on it. Most of you know I’m a Reader—with a capital R. But I am finding my own limits to just how much I can read. It’s not so much the reading itself, although I am beginning to realize that long hours of computer time do take a toll on my vision…but it’s even more about sitting (and yes, I have a standing desk). As a person who reads and writes as a major part of making my living, sitting for stretches is a requirement. I know I’ve been sitting too much when I’m thrilled to stand at the kitchen sink and wash dishes, or step outside and run up and down the stairs.

This situation makes me weigh the words I choose to read more carefully…choose is the keyword here. When the inflow of content is designed to trigger The Click, choice is a counterforce made possible by paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, as I am able. In some ways, the infinite volume of clickable content is my dearest adversary, deepening my practice of mindfulness.

Podcasts inhabit a different realm of the senses than the writing and reading. As I attempt to bring one forward, I’m listening…

I sit when I write this blog. I converse with myself to discover what it is I have to say, often when I’m walking with my dog, and sometimes at my favorite cafe, with pen and a small notebook to capture hovering thoughts. I appreciate and even enjoy the process (and the struggle) enough to have written these Mindful Digital Life posts weekly for almost 3 years. But I also deeply appreciate conversations with other people exploring well-being and connection in our very techno-immersive lives. I’ve been inspired by a long string of mentors who thought and think a lot about conversation…so I will be experimenting over the months ahead with how to bring this forward in a way that satisfies my curiosity and perhaps, catalyzes yours.

I hope my explorations in conversation, both the written ones like this post, and the audio ones to come, will help you to grow your own skillfulness with talking through our digital lives, building our reflective abilities, growing our sense of place and relatedness, and in general, becoming better role models for the children, young people, and other adults in our lives.

Benthic diatom. “This beautiful diatom chain was found in a sediment sample collected in shallow area of Moreton Bay.”

What I’m reading

Document Your Place on the Planet—a student multimedia project. The project “challenges students to take one photograph that captures their relationship and place on Earth.” It asks the question, “How does the Earthrise photograph challenge us to consider our relationship to the Earth and provide a context for what it means to be a global ciitizen?”

What I’m watching

Love at first sight—a diatomist’s tale “The first time I saw a diatom I was 16. It was love at first sight. I just could not get over how nature could produce something that beautiful. Most of the world never sees that beauty.”—Klaus Kemp (4 min video…take the time to watch it!)

Jason Ward goes birding in Central Park—Aspiring birders, be sure to watch the short video, How to Use Binoculars. I’m still working on binoculars.


Stalking & Sharing the Wisdom of Our Connected World

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

We need to find people who are using social media in positive, thoughtful, and intellectual ways. That will give kids a model, a way to think about social media positively. Then we will end up with less things like cyberbullying because we would have taught them to use these tools in better ways.

—Jordan Shapiro, in conversation with Matthew Farber

I’m backing my way into writing a review (slowly but surely) of Jordan Shapiro’s new book, The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World. I ran across another interview with Shapiro, this one by Matthew Farber, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Technology, Innovation, and Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado. Farber asks 4 questions. The quote above is an excerpt from Shapiro’s answer to question 2: I’ve heard you ask, “How can we expect Twitter to get smart if we never taught anyone how to use it smartly?” Can you explain what you mean by that?

[Read more…] about Stalking & Sharing the Wisdom of Our Connected World

These little moments that reconnect me in the web of life and restore me to my senses…

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

2018 First Place Winner, Composition: American Robin, Christy Solo, Oregon 

Are there trees near you,
and does your own soul need comforting?
Quick, then—open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song
may already be drifting away.

~Last stanza of “Such Singing in the Wild Branches” by Mary Oliver

A few days ago the trees in my neighborhood filled with Robins gathering for a Winter berry harvest. It was the loud chattering of all these birds that got my attention, before my eyes took in the unusual movement in the trees above me. To describe the moment beyond that, I would have to turn to poetry. These little moments that reconnect me in the web of life and restore me to my senses…

The Great Backyard Bird Count is February 15–February 18. Even if you don’t actively participate, it’s good to know it’s happening. Explore the website with your family members. And if you don’t have a backyard, walk around your block and notice the birds more than usual. Here’s the GBBC page to help you identify birds you don’t know, and recommendations for various apps including the Merlin Bird ID app that I use.

“Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time.”

Here’s a post I wrote almost a year ago that you might enjoy: “Lost in a sea of browser tabs? Cornell Lab of Ornithology to the Rescue.” It points to an amazing interactive website on bird migrations. I encourage you to spend a little time there.

What I am watching: Nicholas Thompson is the Editor-in-Chief of Wired. In this 7 minute video he discusses AI, Teens, Instagram, and Free Speech. If you live or work with teenagers, this is an excellent conversation catalyst.

What I am reading: My strategy of reading one letter a day in A Velocity of Being, edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick, is working. A special book. You could take turns reading letters to each other with your kids who are readers, and for kids not yet reading, pick out your favorites, read them aloud, and take time with the beautiful accompanying art.

Art by Cindy Derby, A Velocity of Being 

How can we make Discovery a mindful digital life practice?

© by Claudia L’Amoreaux

Etymology search on discovery with usage over time

What’s the role of discovery in your digital life? How do you discover content that is so awesome or amazing that you just have to share it with your family or friends?

I’m calling out Discovery because I think we need to consciously elevate it in our digital lives.

For the next week, pay attention to how you are discovering new content, apps, people to follow. For example, I have a friend who is a SuperCurator of extraordinary artists. She’s also a bird lover like me. She shared @dailybirdpix with me, an Instagram account that has me gasping in awe on a daily basis and as a side effect, is helping me expand my bird knowledge.

Who are your SuperCurators? How to you find and/or select them? And even more important, how are you modeling Discovery and Curation?

So the question of the week is: how can we make Discovery a family practice? If you’re having weekly conversations about the technology in your lives, challenge each other to discover and curate. Find something you haven’t seen, share how you found it, and talk about why you are curating that particular content (a game, an app, an article, a website, a data visualization, a video, etc.).

Here are a few places to begin your journey of discovery.

The Scout Report. Subscribe. I first wrote about it in 2017. You’ll find a subscribe link in my post.

The Kid Should See This—Smart Videos for Curious Minds of All Ages You can subscribe at the bottom of their home page and you will receive “7 smart videos delivered every week.”

iNaturalist. A joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Download the app and contribute to biodiversity science.

I’d love to hear about your Discovery practice. Just reply to this post to share your experiences. I look forward to hearing from you.