I was trying to think about the moment I was happiest last week, and it came from a really unexpected source. I’m “teaching” a walking class. It’s not really teaching anything, but a sports class that kids could sign up for if they were injured, or just not interested in doing more traditional sports. I’ve set it up to be really relaxed, but we need to walk about 5k in around 90 minutes, so not a burning pace or anything but we still need to cover a bit of ground. They have to choose the routes for a grade, and each group takes a turn.
The last walk was not just beautiful, but I realized that the kids just had time to talk. No phones allowed (except for those who’d planned out the route) and it was just nice to watch them hanging out. It can be a bit lonely for me (because I’m often not included, I mean, who wants to talk with the teacher?) but last week I talked films with a film buff, and had a nice conversation with a girl who’d lived in India for two years when she was very little. She’s already had an interesting life and she’s only seventeen! The film buff is also in my English class, and he’s a guy who’s just interested in things, which is my gold standard for cool kids.
This fits well with an article I listened to this morning: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0p9z80d/watch “People are talking less,” apparently. The researcher offers two explanations. The first is that we’re texting in the place of speaking, so maybe the total volume of audio words is diminished but perhaps not the total words per person, per day. The other is that we’re often listening to music or podcasts or whatever, and are missing out on those daily interactions with people while…walking a dog, or buying groceries or whatever. The researcher said that while those “Hi, how are you?” conversations with acquaintances may not seem meaningful, they are part of making us feel part of a community.
I’m definitely guilty of that. I have my headphones on a lot, especially audio books. I try to fit in reading during those minutes of getting off one train and getting onto another, or other down times when it’s unlikely that I would have time to pull out a book. I also might talk to someone then, but it’s less likely. People waiting for public transport rarely speak, and I don’t think that’s new, and the little “Is this seat taken?” isn’t much different than before.
So my happiest moment was during a class where I wasn’t in charge (because a group of students were giving us directions) and I could just talk to kids, and watch them talking to each other. I was happy about both. I was the means by which some kids turned off their phones and spent in person time with each other.
I should have called it talking class, instead of walking one!
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