Post by megancoleman on Aug 9, 2011 9:49:40 GMT -5
Solitude, isolation, boredom, are they all related to loneliness? Most would think so considering when we are "solitary confined," isolated, or bored we are normally alone or who we are with is not entertaining enough to keep our minds busy . Or are these things just silence, and there are people there with us just not speaking, because there can be multiple people in those situations. Deresiewicz claims that, "The alternative to boredom is what Whitman called idleness: a passive receptivity to the world." Which could be taken that there could be no activity filled in the time allotted or not kept busy, but that doesn't mean the person was alone. Technology did not isolate us, it in fact brought humans together in different ways by letting people reconnect with Facebook, or talk on the phone, or text, it helped those not wanting to be alone to be with people who they may have missed. The technological boom created the lack of alone time and therefore created more connections between people and their relationships. However, there did become a downside to the technology that let us communicate through email, text or other written communication, it let us lose sight of how to talk to real people face to face, which was the problem in many peoples eyes seeing as how its harder to create moments. The text and email world gave us the chance not to be alone at all, to always have someone even though they may not be in the room they are still apart of our lives, just through our phones.
Is technology really taking away our alone time? If a person really wanted to be alone, they could cut themselves off from the computer, television, or cell phone, they do not always have to have their cell phones on their person to see what is happening on Facebook or Twitter all the time. The life of technology does not have to rule our lives, some people let it, but its what we do when people aren't constantly texting or calling us. As people with busy lives we need to make sure we get our "alone time" so we can look back and see situations we may have gotten into by texting or being on a social network site too much. The generation's problem is not not having people around or being alone or that we are losing solitude, the problem is we don't know how to get ourselves alone in the time where no one is around, just us and our phone. We can not have an "End of Solitude" when its not going anywhere, we are just changing the definition of solitude, to where it is not as depressing, but where we need to have it to move along, we have to accept it in the way we live our life, we like people, and we like communicating with people, through the phone, messages, or tweets. Solitude can be with other people, and technology isn't ruining the suburbs, we are changing and the technology isn't to blame, but it is helping us along the road.
Is technology really taking away our alone time? If a person really wanted to be alone, they could cut themselves off from the computer, television, or cell phone, they do not always have to have their cell phones on their person to see what is happening on Facebook or Twitter all the time. The life of technology does not have to rule our lives, some people let it, but its what we do when people aren't constantly texting or calling us. As people with busy lives we need to make sure we get our "alone time" so we can look back and see situations we may have gotten into by texting or being on a social network site too much. The generation's problem is not not having people around or being alone or that we are losing solitude, the problem is we don't know how to get ourselves alone in the time where no one is around, just us and our phone. We can not have an "End of Solitude" when its not going anywhere, we are just changing the definition of solitude, to where it is not as depressing, but where we need to have it to move along, we have to accept it in the way we live our life, we like people, and we like communicating with people, through the phone, messages, or tweets. Solitude can be with other people, and technology isn't ruining the suburbs, we are changing and the technology isn't to blame, but it is helping us along the road.