Creating an Environment of Negotiation

Spencer Smith

In this essay, I incorporate Jenny Odell’s ideologies and connect them with a book referenced by her called Bartelby the Scrivener. I go into detail on the idea of having options when asked to perform day-to-day tasks we may not want to, especially in this crazy times with covid. I use the idea creative resistance to not only help Odell’s argument but to also add more detail on how to implement the issue that Odell initiates in her book How to Do Nothing.

The main quote I use multiple times throughout my piece is, “I would prefer not to.” This was first stated by Bartelby in the book Bartelby the Scrivener by Herman Melville. I use this quote many times because it backs up the theory of having options and providing passive resistance to what is being asked of us to do. Instead of saying a straight-up yes or no, Bartelby shocks everyone he works with by saying “I would prefer not to.” I take that one step further in my paper by re-phrasing Bartleby’s response to my own – “I would prefer not to do it that way, I would prefer to do it like this.”

Creating an Environment of Negotiation | by Spencers | Dec, 2020 | Medium

Ten Reasons for Doing Nothing: connecting ideas from Jenny Odell and Jaron Lanier

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https://medium.com/@maskey/ten-reasons-for-doing-nothing-reading-jenny-odell-reading-ten-arguments-for-deleting-your-social-fafddde5c354

In this essay I sought to compare and contrast ideas found in Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing” as well as Jaron Lanier’s “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now”. While Odell never explicitly mentions Lanier’s writings, she does mention him twice throughout the book. Upon further research I thought “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” would be appropriate to analyze, as it has many parallels with that of Odell’s recommendation of disengaging from the “attention economy”. Both authors are incredibly different in their approach, but share similar viewpoints. Odell is not nearly as persuasive as Lanier. Odell’s book is more geared towards giving readers advice on maintaining a better balance between work and play, as well as their relationship with technology, whereas, Lanier is much more determined to convince readers specifically to  delete all social media, leaving much less room for interpretation.

Lanier lays out the book in ten arguments serving as individual chapters, with various smaller sections within the larger chapters. For example, ‘in the chapter titled “Argument One: You Are Losing Your Free Will”. Lanier says, “People are keenly sensitive to social status, judgement and competition…Social concerns are not optional features of the human brain. They are primal.” Lanier uses the examples of the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment, to expound upon the idea that normal people can be coerced into doing things through social pressure. He says “On social networks, the manipulation of social emotions has been the easiest way to generate rewards and punishments.” Rewards on social media come from validation, such as getting a certain amount of likes, reposts, or complimentary comments, whereas punishments can come from the opposite: not enough likes, reposts, or mean comments.’

Walden’s influence on Odell

My goal in writing this essay was to show the connection between Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” and Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing”. I showed these connections by explaining the numerous similarities that Odell and Thoreau share in their writings, such as both of them believing in deep-listening and both having an interest in the economy. I also emphasized the importance of the other authors that Odell compared to Thoreau in her book by showing that Odell wished to connect the examples of Tehching Hsieh, a Taiwanese performance artist, and Plato, a Greek philosopher, to Thoreau in order to connect foreign examples to American lifestyles. 

One quote I would like to show from my essay is when Thoreau is trying to convince an impoverished man to economize in order to help his family, “I told him, that as he worked so hard at bogging, he required thick boots and stout clothing, which yet were soon soiled and worn out… and in an hour or two, without labor, but as a recreation, I could, if I wished, catch as many fish as I should want for two days, or earn enough money to support me a week.” I used this quote in order to expose a difference between Thoreau and Odell which is that Odell tells people to resist the attention economy, while Thoreau tells people to be a part of the economy to save yourself from poverty.

https://camhay.medium.com/waldens-influence-on-odell-96416a00af8f

Working your Own Way: Jenny Odell’s Connection to Bartleby

https://tylerj-20255.medium.com/working-your-own-way-jenny-odells-connection-to-bartleby-7e140505c24

In my piece, I acknowledge how the theories that Jenny Odell portrays in her book, How to do Nothing, are supported by referencing outside works of other authors. In this case, Odell connects the same ideas that she witnesses other authors evaluate on and demonstrate to further strengthen her arguments and analogies for the context of her writing.

By referencing Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Odell elaborates on something that she calls the “Third Space.” This is a place of rebellion over the rules of society and ignores the standards that people are expected to follow. Since Bartleby uses the passive-aggressive phrase “I would prefer not to,” to his employer, as an act of refusal for not doing what he is told. The shocking reaction given by his employer for essentially being told no to his commands as a boss parallels Odell’s theory of the “Third Space.”

Stand Apart From Being Apart: Reading Jenny Odell Reading Epicurus

https://cruzn.medium.com/stand-apart-from-being-apart-reading-jenny-odell-reading-epicurus-4cd57bbdbf8e

The book I selected to discuss in How to Do Nothing was Principal Doctrines by the Greek Philosopher Epicurus. However, my essay focuses more on his ideas and specifically his Garden Commune that Odell talks about. In essence, I explain how Odell and Epicurus are both attacking similar problems that humans face from social fabrics but argue that they are offering different solutions. Although Odell does not mention it much in her book, I also touch base with the philosophy of happiness or peace of mind and try to tie it in with each person’s solution because in the end, I believe that Odell and Epicurus both truly want their followers to be happy.

“…as far as you try an escape, deep down, you will always know that these problems still exist in the world and that you are simply living in a false comforted reality. “

Inanimate Connection: Reading David Abram

https://mattcm-72213.medium.com/inanimate-connection-reading-david-abram-7588c52baffc

In my essay I decided to write about an idea that David Abram talks about in his book Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology. While reading How to Do Nothing I noticed that Odell touches on this idea briefly while mentioning Abram’s book and I thought it would be an interesting topic. Abram talks about how everything is connected in the world no matter if people consider something to be animate or inanimate. This connection that we feel to the world around us is why we sometimes feel the need to disconnect from our daily lives and try to reconnect with the natural world. As I got further into Becoming Animal I felt that I was better able to understand some aspects of what Jenny Odell was talking about because of this general idea.

Abram tells the reader to take a close look at their hands, to feel each of their fingers with their other fingers and really focus on how it feels. “This hand that touches things, then, is entirely part of the tactile field that it explores. It is one of the textured inhabitants of that field, like the velvet moss, the splintered surface of a telephone pole, or the scabrous bark of a white oak near your home.” He then challenges the reader to go to a tree and take hold of one of its leaves and focus on how it feels. He argues that when you feel the tree, the tree is feeling you back. When you look at something with your eyes, that thing you are looking at is looking back at you.

Diving Deeper: The Full Depth of “This is Water” in Odell’s book

I first read “This is Water,” a speech by David Foster Wallace, in my sophomore year English class. I remember being so inspired by it, so much so that it has stuck with me even past that classroom. When I saw that Odell mentioned his speech in “How to Do Nothing,” I was excited to see a piece that I personally loved being used by another writer. When I read Wallace’s entire speech again, I was struck by how similar his ideas were to Odell’s, even though she only included his work briefly in her book. In many ways, it seemed to me that his speech is like a little mini version of “How to Do Nothing!” This prompted me to dive deeper into just how much of Wallace’s ideas can be seen in Odell’s book, beyond just the one point she mentioned.

My essay analyzes the striking similarities between Wallace’s and Odell’s beliefs. The perspectives in the just-over-20-minute speech can be seen over the course of Odell’s entire book. Even thoughts about the very attention economy itself is an overlapping point of focus between the two writers! If there is so much correlation between the two pieces, why did Odell only mention DFW once? I don’t have an answer for that. However, my essay does aim to point out how two writers with different explicit goals ultimately voiced a similar message, and hopefully bring even more validity to the points they are both trying to make.

https://hschnell-11145.medium.com/diving-deeper-the-full-depth-of-this-is-water-in-odells-book-de116bde3393

Inside Minimum Wage: Reading Jenny Odell Reading Ehrenreich

Jenny Odell introduces several different topics and ideas regarding self-improvement and “doing nothing” in her book. But, an underrated topic she speaks of is poverty in chapter 3. Her discussion of poverty and low-wage life intrigued me and lead me to dive deeper into a text she alludes to titled Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich takes on a 3-month journey of experiencing minimum-wage lifestyle first hand. Ehrenreich shows the realism and harsh struggle of the minimum wage lifestyle which is extremely eye-opening. Despite the credibility and relevance of Ehrenreich’s text, an alternate view at Odell’s original reference to Ehrenreich is seemingly fraudulent. Take a look at my piece and see how I try to find fault within Odell’s reference to Ehrenreich and how it affects Odell’s argument as a whole!

https://msrubin.medium.com/inside-minimum-wage-reading-jenny-odell-reading-ehrenreich-4930d876aa08

Bartleby, the Scrivener: Jenny Odell’s Interpretations Against My Own

Photo of office inside the Everett H. Eddy insurance agency and LeRoy C. Eddy law firm circa 1935. Sourced from Early Office Museum Archives.

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In my essay I largely compare Odell’s interpretations of “Bartleby, the Scrivener” to my own. A large point which I focus on with my interpretation of the book is its connections to politics. I use this to analyze the lawyer’s reactions to Bartleby stating “I’d prefer not to.” and recognize that the lawyer’s reactions have a larger purpose than comedic relief. I also highlight how the lawyer demonstrates the withdrawal and reinvesting of attention that Jenny Odell discusses in “How to Do Nothing”. The character of the lawyer has very deep complexities when analyzed closely. My final large point in the essay connects the stories of “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “I and Thou” by showing how the lawyer starts to recognize Bartleby as a complex creature that cannot be interpreted.

Brandon Branson

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View at Medium.com

How to Do Nothing: Delete Social Media

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https://medium.com/@mctreon/how-to-do-nothing-delete-social-media-157264fb05c9

While reading How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell, she mentioned a short quote by Jaron Lanier about the grave effects big tech has had on our lives. I investigated the mentioned author and sought out his most popular work to read for better comprehension of Odell. After reading Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Today by Jaron Lanier, I realized he shared some of the same broad ideas about the malicious effect social media and big tech has had people in modern times. While two wildly different writers, Lanier takes Odells philosophy about the issues of the attention economy regarding social media, and dives deep into the technical corruption of big tech.

In my analytical essay, How to Do Nothing: Delete Social Media, I compare and contrast the ideas of the the two authors about the effect of social media on the mass public and how it is altering society. Lanier takes a more direct assault at the maliciousness of social media, while Odell uses a broader range of industries to resist the attention economy as a whole. Lanier’s work serves as a valuable supplement to assist in the analysis of Odell’s ideology and creates beneficial connections to be explored.