Anna Quindlen Doing Something Is Nothing Analysis

From cell phones and CrackBerries to iPhones and laptops, technology has become such an integral part of our daily lives, we wouldn't know how to live without it.

These days we are surrounded by the latest technology: smartphones, hybrid automobiles, and robots that clean your floors. Companies are constantly finding ways to capture your attention; to keep upgrading and spending endless amounts of money on items that you don’t need. In “Honestly–You Shouldn’t Have” by Anna Quindlen, the reoccurring theme of materialisticness is mentioned and is applied to every American, starting from the Industrial Revolution up until now. In reality, having these upgraded objects and over expensive clothing represent how socially insecure they are. They simply cannot live looking poor or old fashioned, they need to show others that they are not bottom feeders. People see what they have and know there is a better model

Children’s creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology.

When writing a paper or take notes it's better to use a computer or laptop because it

The present is always changing into a better future. There have been many jobs in the past that do not even exist now due to the presence of technology. Nowadays, technology has become a major part of our lives and created a huge change in this world, and gives an opportunity for children to enhance their creativity and adapt to change quickly. In Cathy Davidson’s article, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Davidson discusses how vital the process of unlearning is to students and present education system. Unlearning discourages students from learning in a fashion that has all the pre-set directions, and gives independence to students so that they can explore with creativity. The process of unlearning is quite beneficial as it gives an opportunity for contemporary America to enhance creativity, embrace change, and become more independant.

Do you know what it's like to be starving without no food? There's a big problem with kids and not eating in America, and i'm sure in other places too. School for children is a very important place for them. Some kids don't get to go home and have a meal or even eat at all. Many school give free food to kids while they're at school, these programs such as schools or free camps save starving children that never get to eat. In the story Anna Quindlen points out that getting food stamps for people that actually need it takes more time then selling weapons. “Stamp application is twelve often impenetrable pages; a permit to sell weapons is just two.” This shows we have a big problem in America.

Anna Quindlen describes in the essay "Abortion is too Complex to Feel one Way About" the different situation that we as a human race are put in everyday. She talks about the topic of abortion in a way that one feels they have had to make the decision of whether or not a person is pro-choice or pro-life. She uses references that are of different personal experiences in the essay that are vital to the audience. Quindlen is writing to state her point that one should never put their self in this situation because one should take the proper responsibility. In this paper you will read about the conflict with abortion and what Quindlen thinks about this issue.

In her essay “Doing Nothing Is Something,” Anna Quindlen states that our imagination is created when we are doing nothing. When our mind is not distracted, we take time to ponder upon thoughts. Children’s unlimited usage of technology takes away key aspects of a child’s development. Because children become engrossed in technology, they lose the ability to form important bonds and lose childhood experiences that cannot be replaced, but on the other hand we do have to recognize technology plays an important role in this and future generations.

Kaufman and Beghetto (2014) further suggest that creativity can be fostered in children to a certain extent by providing them with opportunities to express their own unique ideas.

Creativity is the ability to produce work that is original yet appropriate-something that others have not thought of but that is useful in some way (Kaufman & Sternberg, 2007; Sternberg, 2003b). The significance of creativity for children’s development is very high. Creativity helps children develop the overall areas of development; physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive. A child learns to innovate as well as invent while doing creative activities. Through creative practices child finds multiple methods of looking at various situations, assessing these situations and finding new solutions. Children often desire to be able to express themselves without any

Children are no longer encouraged to be creative in the test prep environment. Instead, they are being taught to perform well on standardized tests and are labeled as unintelligent if they don’t. Young children are born with creativity and we see that when they are playing and pretending. According to Sir Ken Robinson, in Slon’s (2013) article, “by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity” to be creative. The fundamentals of creation and experimentation are not part of the standardized testing mechanism.

According to Campbell and Jane (2012), “The generative and evaluative modes associated with creativity help children to understand their own creative thinking and decision-making, facilitating their learning.” (p. 2). I agree with this observation because I do believe that allowing children to expand in their creative thinking will allow them to make decisions on their own. Technology even helps them more because they are given software’s that allows them to show their creative thinking and decision making. The authors emphasize how children feel more motivated during technological activities and discuss how the language of the children improves with the use of technology. For example, they are able to download applications that provide them with speaking and listening skills. Furthermore, they could also use applications that allows them to learn other languages, which expand their knowledge. Their research revealed how some factors such as beliefs, attitudes, expectations, emotions, and motivation in the learning process, can help the learning experiences connect students to be more creative and analytic. In this study, the authors demonstrated that children are more engaged when they are taught by means of technology (Campbell, 2012).

If you search almost anywhere on the internet about creativity and public schools you will run into a video by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. He emphasizes that schools kill creativity in every way. On the other hand, President Barack Obama disagrees whole heartedly. Both of these men agree that creativity is important to children and schools but they disagree on whether or not creativity is being implemented in schools. Robinson stated in his lectured at TED 2006, “I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it” (Ken Robinson. TED2006). He goes to say that

Another example of the benefits of the Internet is that of information acquisition and preservation. Back in the “good old days” acquiring information about an unfamiliar subject, or learning anything for that matter required a knowledgeable individual, a class, or a trip to the library. However, since the birth of the Internet and the development of Google by Larry Page and Sergey Brin all that has changed drastically. With Google we now have the ability to search for anything we desire at the click of a button. At a blink of an eye we are then instantaneously connected to thousands of pictures, articles, videos, books, etc. about our subject of choice such as sports. Furthermore, we not only have the ability to learn from educational documents; but from each other as well. That is, Individuals throughout the years have become more comfortable with sharing their experiences and voicing an opinion such as blogs, reviews, and testimonials. The fact is the Internet provides so many helpful sources for individuals to learn that one could practically teach their self.

Technology has, since the primitive years, always been used to invent tools in order to solve problems. This would, in turn, simplify and make man’s life easier. Through advancements in the field, man has become more efficient on both the macro- and microscopic level. Anything nowadays can be attained with either the flip of a switch or a click of a mouse. One particular technology that came about in this time was the smartphone. Since 2008, the smartphone, a device that combines a normal cell phone with a computer, typically offering Internet access, data storage, e-mail capability, etc. all in your hand was deemed as ground-breaking technology and created one of the largest and most competitive market in terms of