When I look at my classmates’ faces, absorbed in their smartphones, they look eerily expressionless, even hollow. Their eyes look tired and droopy; their faces look drained and sulking. They look like they have no choice. It is almost as if they are compelled by some unseen force to use every second of the time limit their parents have set on their devices. I cannot help but think of them as stuck in quicksand. They are not even trying to get out of it! I think my fellow classmates, and most middle school students and teens, are addicted to smartphones. Smartphones have taken over our society. According to 2019 data, 53% of American children own a smartphone by the time they are 11 years old. 84% of teenagers own a smartphone. I have read many news reports in which researchers claim that smartphones can be fun and educational for children and teens and help them socialize with others. As a middle school student who sees the negative impacts of excessive smartphone usage in school, I strongly disagree with these claims. First, excessive smartphone usage causes students to have a distractive personality. The constant buzzing of new messages turns the student’s attention toward the phone and away from the teacher. Students tend to lose their attention easily and cannot focus on what is being taught in class. Even when their phones are not buzzing, their attention seems to be directed toward the phone. Smartphones and other devices are designed to be addictive. For example, in many video games, players are shown their own and their competitors’ scores. Children want to beat other players’ scores. Children may not know this, but their ambition to beat others in the game causes them to keep on playing the game. Sometimes children lose sleep over games, which can be very harmful to their health. Another example of how smartphones are designed to be addictive is the way the apps notify the users when their post has been liked or commented on. It makes children feel pressured to keep on posting more pictures so that people continue to like their pictures. No wonder the children in my school are hooked. Second, smartphones can really hurt children’s mental health. Children can lose self-esteem because of hurtful things on the internet. They can fall behind in their studies and suffer academically. They are so distracted that they are not able to keep up with the work in school, which affects their grades. This can cause them to be depressed. Children who are lonely in school turn to their smartphones to distract themselves or make friends online, but that does not seem to help. When children are on their phones so much, they don’t socialize with people around them. As a result, they have trouble working in teams. They are unable to ask for help when they need it. They are unable to develop healthy relationships with others. This causes them to plunge into their devices even more; the cycle goes on. Parents must take the responsibility for these consequences because they are the ones who choose to give their children smartphones. Some parents think that by setting time limits and parental controls they can control their child(ren)’s phone use. I think this just makes things worse. Students in my school use all the time they have on their smartphones until their time limit goes off. They seem to be waiting for that time in the day when they can use their smartphones; they are the first thing they reach for at lunchtime. This machine seems to immerse them. Sometimes I imagine them turning into a machine. Why do parents give their children smartphones? This question has been haunting me and I think I finally know the answer now. Parents want to have a good relationship with their children, so they give them everything they want to make them happy. Parents may also think that their child is growing up and they deserve to have a smartphone. It is possible that their child is nagging them to have a smartphone because their friends have it. Some parents want their children to be able to communicate with them or contact them. Some others may think that there are many advantages to using smartphones, including playing games, socializing, having fun, and learning. Yet others may think their children are not susceptible to these kinds of behaviors. Others might think the disadvantages are minor. I do not think any of these are good enough reasons to give your child a smartphone because of all the severely negative impacts it can have on a child. In my experience, most children my age do not know how to control their smartphone usage. I only know of one student in my class who has a smartphone but does not bring it to school. At home, she uses it to listen to music while doing homework. I suspect that she is the exception. It breaks my heart to see children not being children, and students not being students. Children are missing social and academic experiences in school. They are getting into patterns of behavior that are hurting them now and will hurt them in the future. I urge parents not to give their children smartphones at such a young age. Give children their childhood back.
How to Find What You’re Not Looking for, Reviewed by Anushka, 11
Veera Hiranandani’s How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is a book that stays with you long after you have read it. The book explores difficult questions concerning religious and cultural differences that divide our society. This book also questions the meaning of religion and culture and their significance in everyday life. Is religion so important that you could sacrifice your family for it? The book is set in 1977 when young Ariel is about to start middle school. Ariel’s older sister, Leah, falls in love with an Indian man whose name is Raj. Ariel and Leah’s parents do not approve of this relationship because Raj is not Jewish. They are adamant about preserving their Jewish culture and heritage and forbid Leah’s relationship with Raj. The Supreme Court had recently banned state laws that forbid inter-racial marriages. Leah is so upset and disappointed at her parents stunning narrow-mindedness that she elopes with Raj. Ariel’s family pretends not to care and seem to go on with their lives as if Leah was not a part of their family any more. Ariel, who has a close and loving relationship with her sister, struggles to understand Leah’s decision to run away from home and her parents’ intolerance toward non-Jewish people. That is not the only problem Ariel has to deal with. Ariel’s family owns a bakery that will have to be sold and her family will have to move away from their home. During these difficult times, Ariel turns to poetry for support. She finds a new teacher who can advocate for her and help her with writing, which has always been hard for her because of a learning disability. Writing poetry helps Ariel cope with her feelings of loss, anti-semitism that she experiences, family tensions, and her confusion and disappointment over the intolerance of the adults around her. This book is a revelation on multiple levels. Much like Ariel, I was stunned at how the Ariel and Leah’s parents could be so stone-hearted. In discussing the plot of the book with my family and researching inter-faith marriages in India, my own heritage, I was surprised to learn that while the majority of Indian people think it is important to respect all religions, a staggering proportion of people oppose inter-faith marriages and think it is important to stop inter-faith marriages. The same research finds that many Indians would prefer keeping people who practice a different faith away from their neighborhoods. While people in America may be more open to inter-faith marriages today, most Americans still marry within their faith. At the same time, political, ideological, racial and ethnic polarization is a defining feature of contemporary American life. My family does not practice religion so I was intrigued at the impact religion could have on people’s decisions and their lives. Frankly, I never really understood how religion could be so important to some people that it could control your whole life, make you sacrifice your relationships, and not let you be with whom you love. It seems to me that some people are scared of letting go of their culture. It is hard for them to accept that culture changes and grows over time. They want their culture to stay the same. Another revelation was learning how healing poetry can be. I JUST LOVED Ariel’s poems in this book. They reveal Ariel’s state of mind and her feelings incisively. In fact, Veera Hiranandani writes from a second-person point of view, which puts you (the reader) in Ariel’s shoes. This second person perspective immersed me in Ariel’s feelings, made me imagine the vivid scenery, feel close to Ariel, and helped me engage with story, rather than read it passively. This approach, in combination with poetry written from Ariel’s perspective and unique abilities, highlights the author’s extraordinary talent, creativity, and empathy. This approach makes the characters and setting extremely well drawn, making the reader a part of the story (as opposed to a passive viewer). I believe that there could not have been a better way to approach such a difficult and complex topic and make it accessible for children and youth, all without making it simplistic. How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is an intriguing title. I have concluded that the title is just like poetry. It can be interpreted in different ways and its meaning can change depending on the person’s experiences. For me, this title and the book is about how to deal with change and how to learn from those changes — joyous and sorrowful, expected and unexpected. The unexpected and sad events in Ariel’s life help her cultivate her own thoughts, talents, and independence. I was so inspired by the first Veera Hiranandani book I read and reviewed for the Stone Soup blog, The Night Diary. This book is equally inspiring and thought provoking. I am convinced after reading this book that we should do more to encourage meaningful interactions and friendships with people from different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds at an early age. Exposure to books like How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is one such meaningful interaction. I strongly recommend it for readers of all ages for this very reason. How to Find What You’re Not Looking for by Veera Hiranandani. Kokila, 2021. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
Free Lunch, Reviewed by Anushka, 11
Free Lunch by Rex Ogle is a book made purely from the truth. The book tells the story of the author’s lived experience with the horrors of poverty, inequality, and racism in America. It is a moving and inspiring story about the author’s perseverance. I admire Rex Ogle so much. The setting is a wealthy school district where young Rex is starting middle school. It seems everyone but Rex has a car, a house, clothes that fit them, and enough money to make a living. In addition to the slights Rex encounters because of his socio-economic status, he experiences discrimination because of his race. At home, Rex’s parents are jobless and rely on government aid to feed the family. They often rely on fast food for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Rex’s parents seem to neglect him and his little brother. Rex is often responsible for providing the meals for the family and caring for his baby brother. This book taught me so much about the flaws in our society and the connections between societal problems. It made me question many things I took for granted. For example, why is it that success in our society is defined by having a house and car? Why can’t everyone get free lunch in our schools? There is no need to distinguish between students based on their family income. Why can’t affordable and healthy foods be available in schools, restaurants, and stores so that people won’t have to turn to fast food? If students cannot pay for their school supplies, they should be available for free from the school. Sometimes students are not able to cope with the school work. There should be after school support for them. There should be free or affordable childcare support for parents. Jobs should be easier to get and pay well. Accessibility to jobs and information is not equal in our society. It should be equal. Surely we can invest more in the education, health, and well being of our children instead of wars. This book should be assigned reading for all middle school children. Children who read this book will step into the shoes of someone who is not like them—into the world of someone who is suffering. They will learn about racism and discrimination. They will learn how hard it is to get out of the cycle of poverty. Children who read this book will want to make a change and help others around them. They will learn to want to change society for the better. They will learn not to want too much. Children who do not have enough now will learn to have hope and persistence. Incredibly, despite the difficult subject matter and many tearful parts, this book made me feel hopeful in a hopeless world. My favorite part in the book was when Rex made a friend who he was able to talk to about stories, family, and even serious topics like the existence of God. The relationship between Rex and this friend is a true friendship because of the kind of connection they make with each other. Unfortunately, many friendships that my peers have are shallow. True friendships, however, can give people hope. This book is so unique because it is written by a person who has faced poverty and climbed out of it. Rex Ogle is not trying to be someone they are not. His honesty and truth are evident in the writing and flow of the book. This is what makes the book so special for me. I haven’t read anything like it. I think Rex Ogle is telling us through his life story to never give up hope, even though the temptation may be high. This is especially relevant when we are in the midst of a global pandemic, climate change threatens the existence of life, and tensions and conflicts are all around us. We are being tested right now. It seems we are being pushed to our limits. The story in this book tells us how to cope with such despair and uncertainty. You have to be persistent. You must have trust in others around you. Free Lunch by Rex Ogle. Norton Young Readers, 2021. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
