At the end of December 2021, 8-year-old Dillon Helbig walked into the Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library in Boise with his grandmother. Hidden inside his jacket was a secret project: a red hardbound journal titled "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis," signed "Dillon His Self." He had written this book in just four days during his school’s Christmas break, and now he was on a mission to share it with the world. His mischievous plan was first reported by KTVB.
Dillon had been writing stories since he was five, always dreaming of sharing them with others. So when he finished his first novel, he took matters into his own hands. "I covered up this part and covered the back with my body and just snuck it in and then I started to walk, and then I came in this aisle, no wait this aisle, and then I put my book right here. Wait, right there," Dillon told KTVB, describing the moment he quietly shoved his book into a fiction bookshelf.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | RDNE
Dillon’s 88-page novel, packed with colored pencil illustrations, and handwritten typographic elements, is about a night when he was decorating his Christmas tree. Suddenly the star on the top of the tree exploded and he got pulled into a tree portal. From the portal, he time-traveled to 1621, the year when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in America.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Tanya Gorelova
After returning home, Dillon excitedly confessed his mischief to his mom, who called the library to retrieve his journal. But the staff had already discovered it and decided to officially add it to their catalog. Having discovered the picture book, branch manager Alex Hartman told KTVB, "Dillon's book definitely fits all the criteria that we would look for to include a book in our collection." It now has a 56-person waiting list, at the time New York Times reported the incident.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Rafael Cosquiere
Speaking to NPR, he even praised the book saying it belonged to a wide range of genres including science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction. "Some of the illustrations are really quite imaginative and sophisticated in terms of perspective," Hartman said, noting a ‘really striking picture’ of Dillon ‘inside of the body cavity of a giant turkey." According to the Washington Post, Hartman also read the book to his 6-year-old son, Cruzen, who said it was one of the funniest books he’d ever read.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Toulouse
With permission from Dillon and his parents, the library added some fresh stickers to his book and officially placed it in their “graphic novels” and “children’s books” sections. "Now it's in the system, anybody with a library card can check out the book," Hartman said. However, soon enough, the waitlist for the book’s eager readers grew to a mammoth hundreds of people. And since there was just one and the original copy of the book, the waiting time was long. The library even awarded him with its first-ever “Whoodini Award” for best young novelist, an award they created for him, per The New York Times. Meanwhile, other children in Dillon’s school thought it was pretty cool to write a book. They, too, were inspired to write their own stories.
Encouraged by people’s excitement for his novel, Dillon even declared that he was going to write a second book. He told NPR the book would be about “a closet that eats jackets.” He said this book would be based on actual events, and explained the backstory, "Every time I get to recess, I open the closet and my jacket is gone." His mom and dad joked that it's a "jacket-eating closet,” a phrase that was to become the title of the book. "It eats jackets for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Dillon explained.
Susan Helbig, Dillon’s mother told the Washington Post that she was happy that the library had accepted her son’s book. “His imagination is just constantly going, and he is a very creative little boy,” said Susan, and added, “He just comes up with these amazing stories and adventures, and we just kind of follow along.”
Dillon’s story is an inspiring example that teaches aspiring young minds that opportunities don’t always knock at the door. Sometimes, one needs to walk to the door, hustle, and open it. For him, his intelligently devised secret plan brought him the cake of his life, and he is delighted. “I always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate,” Dillon told KTVB.
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Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.