--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is not a flower or bird in sight…" description: "\"There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg" --- # There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small… ![“There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or…” quote by John Davy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg) > “There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song (unless the computer is programmed to produce electronic tweets), no connection with soil, water, sunlight, warmth, the actual learning environment is almost autistic in quality, impoverished sensually, emotionally, and socially.” [John Davy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-davy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Digital learning offers rich mental content but lacks sensory, emotional, and social depth, resulting in a impoverished experience **In simple terms:** Screen learning is mentally rich but sensorially poor Key Takeaway Seek balanced learning experiences Themes technology education sensory deprivation social isolation cognitive richness Mood concerned analytical Type essay critical observational When to use this quote - classroom teaching - field trips - hands‑on labs - family activities - mindful media use Key Concepts digital pedagogy embodied cognition learning theory Questions to Reflect On - How can we enrich digital learning sensorially? - What balance of tech and real‑world interaction works best? A Different Perspective The critique may overlook benefits of accessibility ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Autistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autistic/) [Autistic Quality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autistic-quality-2242163/) [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Bird song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird-song/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Computer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computer/) [Connections](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/connections/) [Environment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environment/) [Environment Autistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environment-autistic-2242161/) [Environment Mentally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environment-mentally-2242162/) [Fingers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fingers/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Keyboards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keyboards/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Learning environment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning-environment/) [Lines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Pushing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pushing/) [Quality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality/) [Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rich/) [Sight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sight/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Soil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Sunlight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunlight/) [Taste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taste/) [Tweet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tweet/) [Warmth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/warmth/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) ## Related quotes > [Winter has caused damage everywhere: meadow and forest are all grey, where before you heard many sounds. If I could see the girls play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walther-von-der-vogelweide/winter-has-caused-damage-everywhere-meadow-and-forest-are-all-grey/) [Walther von der Vogelweide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walther-von-der-vogelweide/) > [To rise above treeline is to go above thought, and after, the descent back into bird song, bog orchids, willows, and firs is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/to-rise-above-treeline-is-to-go-above-thought-and-after-the-descent/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [If you love a person, you say to that person, "Look, I love you, whatever that may be. I've seen quite a bit of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/if-you-love-a-person-you-say-to-that-person-look-i-love-you-whatever/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/a-great-many-people-not-you-do-now-seem-to-think-that-the-mere-state/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“Clean air; bird song; fresh flowers; and the leaves unfurling on the twigs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-d-alverne/clean-air-bird-song-fresh-flowers-and-the-leaves-unfurling-on-the/) [Pierre D'Alverne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-d-alverne/) > [“Clear night, thumb-top of a moon, a back-lit sky. Moon-fingers lay down their same routine On the side deck and the threshold, the white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wright/clear-night-thumb-top-of-a-moon-a-back-lit-sky-moon-fingers-lay-down/) [Charles Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wright/) > [“Her childhood had been magical, hours spent in ecstatic loneliness in the apple orchard, dreaming of foreign lands and wild adventures. Everything was new,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-hepinstall/her-childhood-had-been-magical-hours-spent-in-ecstatic-loneliness-in/) [Kathy Hepinstall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-hepinstall/) > [The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/the-sun-shines-not-on-us-but-in-us-the-rivers-flow-not-past-but/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [A gush of bird song, a patter of dew A cloud and a rainbow's warning; Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue An April day in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-elizabeth-prescott-spofford/a-gush-of-bird-song-a-patter-of-dew-a-cloud-and-a-rainbow-s-warning/) [Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-elizabeth-prescott-spofford/) > [Cobbled streets and no shops open past six o'clock, a communal life that seemed to revolve around church, and where you could often hear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/cobbled-streets-and-no-shops-open-past-six-o-clock-a-communal-life/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [My faith is the grand drama of my life. I'm a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivier-messiaen/my-faith-is-the-grand-drama-of-my-life-i-m-a-believer-so-i-sing-words/) [Olivier Messiaen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivier-messiaen/) > [“Are spirits so involved in men's lives? Marley asked. Mankind is inolved in men's lives. We only help them know how. ...Jacob, all around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-william-bennett/are-spirits-so-involved-in-men-s-lives-marley-asked-mankind-is/) [R. William Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-william-bennett/) > [Life was not intended to be simply a round of work, no matter how interesting and important that work may be. A moment’s pause…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingalls-wilder/life-was-not-intended-to-be-simply-a-round-of-work-no-matter-how/) [Laura Ingalls Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingalls-wilder/) > [Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/over-increasingly-large-areas-of-the-united-states-spring-now-comes/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [“But now Jay’s mind was so full of other things that he could no longer hear the bird’s song.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilchi-lee/but-now-jay-s-mind-was-so-full-of-other-things-that-he-could-no/) [Ilchi Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilchi-lee/) ## More Autistic quotes > [“Jack was the kind of guy you could take into any situation and he would figure out how to fit in. Wayne, not so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacey-ballis/jack-was-the-kind-of-guy-you-could-take-into-any-situation-and-he/) [Stacey Ballis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacey-ballis/) > [“The autistic mind is not the wave at the surface of the ocean, but the whole world that exists below.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krissy-bells/the-autistic-mind-is-not-the-wave-at-the-surface-of-the-ocean-but-the/) [Krissy Bells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krissy-bells/) > [A solitary American monk named Thomas Berry writes that in our relationship to nature, we have been autistic for centuries. Wrapped tightly in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-benyus/a-solitary-american-monk-named-thomas-berry-writes-that-in-our/) [Janine Benyus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janine-benyus/) > [Autistic people's disabilities are widely known, but one of their best-established strengths is their attention to detail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-baron-cohen/autistic-people-s-disabilities-are-widely-known-but-one-of-their-best/) [Simon Baron-Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-baron-cohen/) > [“That’s very trusting.” Iris watches Anke search our backpacks. “We’re saving people’s lives. We thought we could be,”Anke says. I’m more fixated on her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-duyvis/that-s-very-trusting-iris-watches-anke-search-our-backpacks-we-re/) [Corinne Duyvis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-duyvis/) > [ I both didn't know Owen \[Suskind\] beforehand and didn't have any connection to the autistic community. But Owen wasn't really a problem, because he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-both-didn-t-know-owen-suskind-beforehand-and-didn-t-have-any/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [“Our brokenness is our greatest strength. I've been broken all my life, for my life is one on the spectrum with OCD to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/our-brokenness-is-our-greatest-strength-i-ve-been-broken-all-my-life/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Divergent Dynamite (The Sonnet) You only know my infinite radiance, you got no clue to my innate hurricane. Day in and day out I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/divergent-dynamite-the-sonnet-you-only-know-my-infinite-radiance-you/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Well the dog that is the most is the a Labrador retrievers because they tolerate kids tugging on them and things better than other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/well-the-dog-that-is-the-most-is-the-a-labrador-retrievers-because/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Looking ahead, future generations may learn their social skills from robots in the first place. The cute yellow Keepon robot from Carnegie Mellon University…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-h-wilson/looking-ahead-future-generations-may-learn-their-social-skills-from/) [Daniel H. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-h-wilson/) > [For a seriously autistic kid, the best prognosis might be getting into a mainstream school without being too much of a shadow. For a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-mccarthy/for-a-seriously-autistic-kid-the-best-prognosis-might-be-getting-into/) [Jenny McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-mccarthy/) > [Normal people have an incredible lack of empathy. They have good emotional empathy, but they don't have much empathy for the autistic kid who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/normal-people-have-an-incredible-lack-of-empathy-they-have-good/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Nobel prize-calibre geniuses often have certain core autistic features at their heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-snyder/nobel-prize-calibre-geniuses-often-have-certain-core-autistic/) [Allan Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-snyder/) > [I can't hang around with lots of people these days because I am hypersensitive. So when I am around a lot of people or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-can-t-hang-around-with-lots-of-people-these-days-because-i-am/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [I know a number of autistic adults that are doing extremely well on Prozac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/i-know-a-number-of-autistic-adults-that-are-doing-extremely-well-on/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) [Browse all 163 Autistic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autistic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song (unless the computer is programmed to produce electronic tweets), no connection with soil, water, sunlight, warmth, the actual learning environment is almost autistic in quality, impoverished sensually, emotionally, and socially.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Davy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-davy/there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-only-a-small-screen-on-which/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Autistic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-davy/there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-only-a-small-screen-on-which/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/john-davy-192409_autistic_there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-o_1826989.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits…” — John Davy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Davy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-davy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is not a flower or...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-davy/there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-only-a-small-screen-on-which/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-davy/there-is-not-a-flower-or-bird-in-sight-only-a-small-screen-on-which/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```