As a solo traveler, I am thrilled when I locate an app like GyPSy Guide which provides “GPS narrated audio tours with stories, local tips and directions, along the route. All the benefits of a guided tour, freedom to drive yourself.” Listening to voice guidance through the car’s speakers on the Icefields Parkway in Alberta or driving through the Grand Tetons in Montana, I have a personal tour guide to recommend parking in the next pullout so that I don’t miss an amazing view. And one of the best features is that I can power that voice off when my ears grow tired of listening. That doesn’t seem to work too well with a live passenger in the car providing the directions.

Technology has enabled us access to a great deal of information these days. Just as we no longer need to visit with a travel agent or to pore over books and maps to plan a scenic drive through unfamiliar territory, we sometimes think we no longer need others to help us process information. As Sherry Turkle shares with readers in Reclaiming Conversation, “Apps can give you a number, only people can provide a narrative. Technology can expose mechanism; people have to find meaning.” And what her research is indicating, especially with emerging generations, is that Narration is Needed to understand the data that is being provided through our devices. Just as I need the guidance of a tour guide to know where to turn so that I don’t miss Athabasca Falls, we need to comprehend that sometimes we need assistance to “construct narratives around our numbers [or information]” so that a whole story emerges.

Finding that Narration is Needed not only on road trips but also in areas of our lives where we are making strides to create the Habits of a Flourishing Life, we can embrace wisdom from mentors who desire to see us be our best selves, especially when implementing self-monitoring. “But as we become more sophisticated about the kinds of data that self-monitoring devices return to us, that first impulse need not be our last impulse. We can construct narratives around our numbers.” A rich discussion recently in one of my nutrition classes focused on this exact issue. How do we take the information provided from wearable fitness devices, self-tracking eating plans, or calculations and measurements, to create a narrative of the entire story of our health?

“When we have a number, it tends to take on special importance even as it leaves us to all the heavy lifting of narrative construction. Yet it constrains that construction because the story we tell has to justify the number. Your quantified data history can provide material for constructing a story. But here, our language betrays us. We talk about ‘output’ from our tracking programs as ‘results.’ But they are not results. They are first steps. But too often, they are first steps that don’t suggest second steps,” shares Turkle. Narration is Needed to engage in a conversation; to use the data to start a conversation with trusted allies. It is the conversation, the narrative, that brings about change in our health and family dynamics. Conversation = change.

But we are currently living in a society that struggles to engage in the art of conversation, and unless we become intentional about fostering quality conversation with emerging generations, we may lose the ability to converse about difficult topics. Narration is Needed to Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes, to demonstrate empathy and understanding, to exhibit tough love, and engage in those Courageous Conversations that lead to change, whether it’s a personal health issue or a broader matter impacting our society. So, in what ways can we cultivate the art of conversation so that when Narration is Needed, our students and children have the essential skills required to handle the situation?

Please feel free to share your ideas for how to handle moments when Narration is Needed. When have you experienced a time when someone was able to communicate well, using the necessary words to engage in a dialogue that moved the conversation forward to a meaningful place?

References:

GPS Tour Guide, Inc. (2020). Home. Retrieved from https://gypsyguide.com/

Turkle, S. (2015). Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Penguin Press.