Post by paigewallace on Aug 9, 2011 9:52:46 GMT -5
Growing up I can never remember being alone. I can remember my parents leaving, but having a babysitter. I can remember child hood friends going home, but only for dinner, or to sleep. I can remember my sister leaving for college, but only to leave me with my mother and father. Being with others is something that we have learned, and have grown near to. I agree with the article “The End of Solitude.” But not that this is a new thing, I believe the want to be with others has been universal, and timeless.
The author quotes “I once asked my students about the place that solitude has in their lives. One of them admitted that she finds the prospect of being alone so unsettling that she'll sit with a friend even when she has a paper to write. Another said, why would anyone want to be alone?” This is what I would call an extreme to the “end of solitude.” When I said previously that the want of others has been universal, and timeless, I meant none of us could possibly want to live in solitude forever. Even looking back into Bible stories, God didn’t want to leave Adam alone. We have always been taught as long as I can remember to use the “buddy system” and “ask for help if you need it.” Does anyone know why the end of solitude is approaching? My opinion is because that’s what we see as comfortable. As children growing up we look at our parents as a pair, together, as a team. We look at our friends and travel with them as a pack so to speak. We go to school together, we go see movies, play games, and travel together.
I agree with the author that today’s generation is even more dependent on being with other people than ever before. I don’t see that being such a bad thing. I’m with the girl who had the previous quote earlier, “why would anyone want to be alone?” Sure, I think self reliance, independence and moments of alone time are healthy. Although, I am certainly not going to be the person who says that they never want to grow up and get married, have a family to prove my point. I believe that the author is more concerned than he needs to be. Wanting to be with other people is a perfectly healthy and acceptable thing. I would be more concerned with a child that wanted to live in complete solitude than be outside having fun with their friends. Although William Deresiewicz does have a point of the currents generations reliance on NEVER having a moment to their self, with texting, facebook, twitter, etc. There is no point in actually trying to stop it. Let’s get real, no one is ever going to stop having the want to be socially connected, and as long as there is that want, there will always be new ways to fulfill that want.
The author quotes “I once asked my students about the place that solitude has in their lives. One of them admitted that she finds the prospect of being alone so unsettling that she'll sit with a friend even when she has a paper to write. Another said, why would anyone want to be alone?” This is what I would call an extreme to the “end of solitude.” When I said previously that the want of others has been universal, and timeless, I meant none of us could possibly want to live in solitude forever. Even looking back into Bible stories, God didn’t want to leave Adam alone. We have always been taught as long as I can remember to use the “buddy system” and “ask for help if you need it.” Does anyone know why the end of solitude is approaching? My opinion is because that’s what we see as comfortable. As children growing up we look at our parents as a pair, together, as a team. We look at our friends and travel with them as a pack so to speak. We go to school together, we go see movies, play games, and travel together.
I agree with the author that today’s generation is even more dependent on being with other people than ever before. I don’t see that being such a bad thing. I’m with the girl who had the previous quote earlier, “why would anyone want to be alone?” Sure, I think self reliance, independence and moments of alone time are healthy. Although, I am certainly not going to be the person who says that they never want to grow up and get married, have a family to prove my point. I believe that the author is more concerned than he needs to be. Wanting to be with other people is a perfectly healthy and acceptable thing. I would be more concerned with a child that wanted to live in complete solitude than be outside having fun with their friends. Although William Deresiewicz does have a point of the currents generations reliance on NEVER having a moment to their self, with texting, facebook, twitter, etc. There is no point in actually trying to stop it. Let’s get real, no one is ever going to stop having the want to be socially connected, and as long as there is that want, there will always be new ways to fulfill that want.