Post by karlhempel on Jul 9, 2011 17:38:33 GMT -5
Every day, in countless new situations, people want comfort. The teenager’s mentality is the neediest mind set in today’s society. Wherever a teenager goes, they demand to not be alone, they want comfort. As technology has developed, the teenager has gained access to more and more devices that allow constant communication with their peers and other people around them. Social networking sites are the key examples of teenagers finding comfort, which leads to problems about never being isolated. Therefore, the teenager needs to become more apt to the concept of being alone. The article The End of Solitude perfectly describes the complex problem which has risen from peoples’ inability to ever be alone.
Social networking, especially Twitter and Facebook, is a key problem in society’s inability to understand true relationships and end up developing a concept of boredom. The teenager in particular has begun to be completely absolved in a virtual world where they make “friends” on social networking sites. Yet, they never actually develop the true friendships which they will need in everyday life. Teenagers become content with their simple Facebook conversations and don’t venture out into the real world to develop friendships. The End of Solitude states, “But at least friendship, if not intimacy, is still something they [teenagers] want,” which is a perfect description of the problem at hand. Since people are constantly content when they can chat on Facebook, watch some television, or text a friend, when people are not able to perform these tasks constantly or they commit them too often, they become bored.
The concept of boredom and online “friends” has created a national epidemic which causes a person to never want to be alone. Therefore, people begin to neglect themselves because they simply do not spend enough time alone. One needs time alone to develop one’s own thoughts and opinions, gain knowledge and understand truly who they are. Yet, with all the new technology even more social problems arise. Since new technology has come about- for example texting- people are inclined to not meet new people, since they have the ability to directly contact them and always know where they are. People do not make new friends trying to find others they want to be with, simply because they can neglect all others and find that specific person they want to be with. Yet, when one is alone, typically when doing some form of academic work, even more problems arise. The End of Solitude points out that people in today’s society can’t stay occupied on one source of information when the information desired could be there, “Five minutes on the same Web page is considered an eternity.” The internet has turned into an instrument which needs to spit out information as quickly as desired, even though the information may be more complicated than one thinks.
One way to deal with this growing problem of fear of loneliness and boredom is to revert back to some earlier ways of thinking. Particularly a way of thinking which would enhance people’s abilities to embrace being away from other human interaction is transcendentalism. Finding one’s self in nature would develop their ability to understand the importance of being alone and embracing it. The End of Solitude describes, “They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude,” which could be dealt with through interaction with nature.
Thus, as our society continues to gain more technological advances and people develop an even worse fear of loneliness and boredom, society will need to embrace the more primitive sides of society. Nature is the key to understanding one’s self and our society needs to address that. The End of Solitude describes the problems which are plaguing our society extremely well and helps people understand that all this technology is positive in most manners, yet can be negative in other manners. Therefore, moderation with technology is extremely important in the development of a teenager.
Social networking, especially Twitter and Facebook, is a key problem in society’s inability to understand true relationships and end up developing a concept of boredom. The teenager in particular has begun to be completely absolved in a virtual world where they make “friends” on social networking sites. Yet, they never actually develop the true friendships which they will need in everyday life. Teenagers become content with their simple Facebook conversations and don’t venture out into the real world to develop friendships. The End of Solitude states, “But at least friendship, if not intimacy, is still something they [teenagers] want,” which is a perfect description of the problem at hand. Since people are constantly content when they can chat on Facebook, watch some television, or text a friend, when people are not able to perform these tasks constantly or they commit them too often, they become bored.
The concept of boredom and online “friends” has created a national epidemic which causes a person to never want to be alone. Therefore, people begin to neglect themselves because they simply do not spend enough time alone. One needs time alone to develop one’s own thoughts and opinions, gain knowledge and understand truly who they are. Yet, with all the new technology even more social problems arise. Since new technology has come about- for example texting- people are inclined to not meet new people, since they have the ability to directly contact them and always know where they are. People do not make new friends trying to find others they want to be with, simply because they can neglect all others and find that specific person they want to be with. Yet, when one is alone, typically when doing some form of academic work, even more problems arise. The End of Solitude points out that people in today’s society can’t stay occupied on one source of information when the information desired could be there, “Five minutes on the same Web page is considered an eternity.” The internet has turned into an instrument which needs to spit out information as quickly as desired, even though the information may be more complicated than one thinks.
One way to deal with this growing problem of fear of loneliness and boredom is to revert back to some earlier ways of thinking. Particularly a way of thinking which would enhance people’s abilities to embrace being away from other human interaction is transcendentalism. Finding one’s self in nature would develop their ability to understand the importance of being alone and embracing it. The End of Solitude describes, “They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude,” which could be dealt with through interaction with nature.
Thus, as our society continues to gain more technological advances and people develop an even worse fear of loneliness and boredom, society will need to embrace the more primitive sides of society. Nature is the key to understanding one’s self and our society needs to address that. The End of Solitude describes the problems which are plaguing our society extremely well and helps people understand that all this technology is positive in most manners, yet can be negative in other manners. Therefore, moderation with technology is extremely important in the development of a teenager.