"The End of Solitude"

[stephanietapia]

I disagree with William Deresiewicz, I don't think it's the End of Solitude, I think it's just the beginning. So many forms of technology have been introduced to todays society, and the change has been a big one. Deresiewicz was told that a teenager had 3,000 text messages in one month. He comes to the conlusion ,"That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning, noon, and night, weekdays and weekends, class time, lunch time, homework time, and toothbrushing time. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she's never alone." Yeah it may seem like she's always taking to someone, does Deresiewicz know who those people are? No I don't think so. She may not be alone, socially, but she might be alone emotionally. All that timee absorbed in technology can be hurtful and as a teenager, at the end of the day I must admit it is tiring. I will stay up all night and talk to and old friend on Facebook, I will be having 4 different conversations on 4 different social networks with my best friend, and I will be texting more than four people and not let it phase me.
I see it like overdressed salad. If you know how much dressing to put on it just for your personal taste, put that amount. What if your hand slips and the whole bottle opens and spills on your salad? You either choose to throw it away or eat it. My point? At the end of the day you realize the toll technology has taken on you. The next day you just limit yourself to a certain amount of time you spend with technology, if you set up for a whole day of it, you've lost yourself. Later at night you probably won't be able to find your peace of mind. Deresiewicz claims that his students have little time for intimicy and no time for solitude. Here's my reason for why I disagree. There is always time for solitude. Take phones away from dinner to catch up with family and friends verbally, without a screen. Waterproof phone!? What.the.heck. Yes, the idea of being able to text while taking a shower sounds kinda nifty...kinda. That time is for you! Take it to the ocean instead and take pictures of starfish and the shark that's coming right at ya! Technology has indeed crossed the line a couple of times.
So many people seem to care what others think of them. Oh yay! A Facebook friend request! I don't know who you are but I'll get to know you. Umm wrong. People are caught up in the glory of having friends. Just because it's a number on the screen saying Friends(48569845), which ones do you actually know? Probably not even half of them. Once you realize this, you really start feeling alone, the wrong kind of alone. That's when you should take the time for yourself and focus on not feeling alone the wrong way. There are people out there, your own friends who won't mind taking the time and talk to you, in person. Take time off from technology and enjoy yourself, get to know yourself with a couple hours of solitude.

[shelbysinkhorn]

I get and agree what you are saying here, but as technology grows and grows we will not be able to stop ourselves all that easily. If a thing that was made to help us be more efficient and be there to go to in need of help, like Google, has formed into this everyday used thing, can’t we expect it to grow even more? When you have a cellphone by your side, a laptop across the room, four TVs in your house, and maybe even a game system; it makes it that much harder to turn away from the glorious things they give you and just take an hour or two for yourself. Each year it seems technology becomes bigger in schools also, to where we are at the point where some schools have even gone completely technologic. Technology surrounds us everywhere we turn, always offering to fulfill that need of being heard that everyone secretly wants.
If I look at people around me I do agree not everyone has this “problem” the article brings up. That many people can take a break and know how to set stuff aside when necessary. So maybe the “End of Solitude” is not as near as we thought it was, but I can see how at the rate we are going and growing it quite possibly could in the future.

[isabelleballard]

Stephanie makes a very good point. Modern teenagers may always be in a conversation, but conversations on social networking sites and by text message often lack the depth of a real conversation. We also have the ability to disconnect. It is a simple matter of turning off your phone and logging off of the computer. Before the days of cell phones and e-mail, humans still had the ability to always be connected. Being connected to other people helps us feel safe. Like Thorough said, “Men are still a little bit afraid of the dark.” The internet just makes things a little bit easier for us to stay connected to the outside world. Even today, People who truly want to be alone can find solitude if they try. Even though Google can be compared to Big Brother, we do not live in Nineteen Eighty Four. At least we do not have to live in constant fear of thought police.