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I am crazy now...

1/21/2021

All screens-- all the time!

As you know, I've been advocating for the reduction of screen time for about a decade, especially for children... and there was an inkling of hope just before this whole Covid business. Mainstream conversations around the problems of screen-based digital technology were growing. For instance:

Studies found detrimental effects of screen time on children (duh);
Streaming and downloading music creates more pollution than vinyl or CDs (at their peaks);
The carbon emissions from powering the internet are unsustainable;
#DegitalDetox2019 was actually a thing!

I wrote about the issues of technology in education in this comic. And this 2019 film from Iceland kept me inspired.

In fact, just before lockdown, I discovered this small chain of UK bars called Samuel Smith pubs. There are only a couple hundred or so throughout the UK and my neighbourhood in Middlesbrough has (had) two (in these beautiful old Victorian buildings). Anyways, according to their website:

George Orwell described his perfect pub in a 1945 essay entitled “The Moon under Water” – Samuel Smith pub's accord with his ideal in several ways:

The architecture and fittings must be uncompromisingly Victorian
Games, such as darts, are only played in the public bar so that in other bars you can walk about without the worry of flying darts
The pub is quiet enough to talk, with the house possessing neither a radio nor a piano
The barmaids know the customers by name and take an interest in everyone
A creamy sort of draught stout is served
In winter there is generally a good fire burning in at least two of the bars

These places were so cool! They had "Digital Detox Zone" posters and staff wore the imprint on their T-Shirts.

I found another Samuel Smith pub down the road in another town called Stockton (where the friction match was invented in 1826). Kim, our friend Will, and I were there last year (just before lockdown) drinking pints (organic draught lager!). Will turns on his phone to text his gal, and wouldn't you know it: a barmaid asks him to put the phone away. It isn't permitted! I loved and laughed at that moment.

I'm bored of YouTube and Netflix now, so I caved and got the free Amazon Prime for a month. What's worth watching? So far, these:

Under the Silver Lake
Billie
The Banana Splits Movie
The Man in the High Castle
The Last Testament of George Harrison

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Julian Lawrence (Senior Lecturer Comics & Graphic Novels, Teesside University) is an award-winning cartoonist and educator specializing in comic books. Born in England and raised bilingual English-French in Québec, his work has been published and displayed internationally by Fantagraphics Books, Les Editions des Plaines, Conundrum Press, National Film Board of Canada, Penguin Books, Cartoon Network and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

Julian has an MA in Art Education from the University of British Columbia and lives in Middlesbrough, UK where he is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Comics and Graphic Novels programme at Teesside University.

Julian’s research concentrates on ethnographic investigations into the ways comics transmit narratives. His research explores freehand narrative drawing and its impact on representations of artist identity. Investigations of these topics led him to combine theories of authorship with semiotic analysis of comics and create lessons that support students in developing a voice, improving literacy, and negotiating conceptions of identity. As a bilingual artist/researcher/teacher, Julian delivers lessons in both English and French.
His most recent works include the publication of three graphic novels as well as contributions to the book The Bliss and Blisters of Early Career Teaching: A Pan-Canadian Perspective, various journals. He is currently working on a book chapter that investigates the ways comics and collaboration engage university students with community art education.

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