Post by niastallworth on Aug 9, 2011 19:26:56 GMT -5
"Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible," is a quote from "The End of Solitude" by William Deresiewicz. Throughout the piece the author generalizes the youth of today's "obsession" with being visible and their lack of alone time. This was the only problem I had with Deresiewicz's article. The reason being is that not every young person with a Facebook or Twitter account wants to be known or become a celebrity. Just because a person likes to upload pictures or has several hundred friends or followers does not necessarily mean they want to be famous. Visibility is not a bad thing, just because someone prefers to interact with others frequently does not mean that once their interaction stops they feel invisible. Furthermore, Deresiewicz's opinion is mostly based off of his age and not facts. Deresiewicz is a man in his late forties who experienced a completely different youth. Albert Einstein once said, "Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature," maybe instead of being encouraged by the idea of celebrity or visibility we want to experience life. From the author's description of solitude, it seems like it would be most beneficial for an older person. Later in the article Deresiewicz criticizes his students social habits by stating, "What does friendship mean when you have 532 "friends"? How does it enhance my sense of closeness when my Facebook News Feed tells me that Sally Smith (whom I haven't seen since high school, and wasn't all that friendly with even then) "is making coffee and staring off into space"? My students told me they have little time for intimacy. And of course, they have no time at all for solitude." The author writes of solitude as if it is the greatest thing on earth, and it may be to the older generation. However from what Deresiewicz describes solitude is used to ponder and reflect on the past. Therefore to truly be able to reflect and ponder, our generation would need to experience life instead of sitting around wondering about what life is like. Solitude is not a fad that will go out of style in the next few years, it will always be there in one way or another. In the beginning the author describes the many different eras that the idea solitude had survived, so my question is what would make postmodernism any different. The idea of solitude may have become less important to today's generation but it is still there. To truly understand the benefits of solitude, a person would have to have maturity, which comes from life experiences. In conclusion, for a person to be able to completely understand the social behaviors of today's generation, they would need to be apart of this generation. Personally, I believe that when I am older I will be able to understand Deresiewicz's view on the social behaviors of my generation when I am criticizing the next generation's.