Julia

“Jefferson’s use of the word “elevate” captures for all of us the feeling that we are lifted “up” in some way. Conversely, witnessing people behaving in petty, nasty ways, or doing physically disgusting things, triggers revulsion. We feel pulled “down” in some way. We close off and turn away. Such actions are incompatible with our elevated nature. This is how I’m using the word “spiritual.” It means that one endeavors to live more of one’s life well above zero on the z axis. Christians ask, “What would Jesus do?” Secular people can think of their own moral exemplar. (I should point out that I am an atheist, but I find that I sometimes need words and concepts from religion to understand the experience of life as a human being. This is one of those times.)

So now I want to ask: Does the phone-based life generally pull us upward or downward on this vertical dimension? If it is downward, then there is a cost even for those who are not anxious or depressed. If it is downward, then there is spiritual harm, for adults as well as for adolescents, even for those who think that their mental health is fine. There would also be harm to society if more people are spending more time below zero on the z axis. We would perceive a general society-wide degradation that would be hard to put into words.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“Moreover, no public woman resides inside the city, but all such abide outside in the suburbs. And 'tis wonderful what a vast number of these are for the foreigners; ...”
― Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo: The Venetian

“The inhabitants are all Idolaters. And I may as well remind you again [implied sigh?] that all the people of Cathay are Idolaters.”
― Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo: The Venetian

“In the presence of the physicians and academics who were Lyceum members his lack of formal education embarrassed him despite his hard-won ornithological expertise. "Among such people," he wrote, "I feel clouded and depressed; remember that I have done nothing, and fear that I may die unknown.”
― Richard Rhodes, John James Audubon: The Making of an American