Post by johnthompson on Jul 30, 2011 15:20:12 GMT -5
William Deresiewicz’s article “The End of Solitude” brings up again the ever pressing problem of how technology is taking away our sense of privacy. How facebook and twitter have made it impossible for my generation to have any concept of the traditional meaning of alone. This generation considers oneself alone when they are staring at a computer screen to find out what their friends had for dinner. We constantly forget to be truly alone, to truly be in complete solitude, we must put our relationships in the back of our minds and focus on ourselves. Today this feat is nearly impossible. Our culture is based on interaction with other human beings. Our work, our school, our personal lives; there is no aspect in today’s society where we can be completely alone. Even the hermits living of the land must sometimes drift into thought about former experiences with other humans. We can never truly be alone and it’s not a problem.
There are extreme cases were insecure teens will text or facebook their friends for the better part of the day. Who cares? If everyone made a greater effort worrying about themselves in the first place we wouldn’t have to care how many facebook users there are. Technology has been causing our globe to become smaller for hundreds of years. Deresiewicz’s article is just complaining that we have progressed past a certain part of history. Get over it William. This isn’t the first time technology was imposed on personal solitude and it won’t be the last. Thousands of years ago mail brought communication from distance. Hundreds of years ago ships were advanced enough to fill the unknown corners of the globe. Decades ago the telephone was invented and brought communication to anywhere with a receiver. About 20 years ago the internet brought communication instantly. I feel sure this is not the limit of communication. There will always be something more; I’m trying to invent a teleport device now. We will always progress.
Society will keep moving. We may have lost our traditional since of solitude. But who is to say this is a bad thing? As time moves on we find ourselves rewriting what we once put in stone. The term “marriage” is being rewritten in front of our eyes as six states have approved same sex marriage. We might be sad to see the idea of complete, mental solitude vanish within our culture, but with technology we also have to advance. Get over it people you can never be completely alone. I would love for someone to prove me wrong. Just you can’t tell me about it because you wouldn’t be alone anymore. It gets complicated, just be happy with what you have. William stated “Solitude isn't easy, and isn't for everyone. It has undoubtedly never been the province of more than a few.” This isn’t correct. No one has ever been truly alone. Last time I checked human babies cannot survive on their own. Everyone has a relationship of some kind, even if it’s a bad one, they are not alone.
There are extreme cases were insecure teens will text or facebook their friends for the better part of the day. Who cares? If everyone made a greater effort worrying about themselves in the first place we wouldn’t have to care how many facebook users there are. Technology has been causing our globe to become smaller for hundreds of years. Deresiewicz’s article is just complaining that we have progressed past a certain part of history. Get over it William. This isn’t the first time technology was imposed on personal solitude and it won’t be the last. Thousands of years ago mail brought communication from distance. Hundreds of years ago ships were advanced enough to fill the unknown corners of the globe. Decades ago the telephone was invented and brought communication to anywhere with a receiver. About 20 years ago the internet brought communication instantly. I feel sure this is not the limit of communication. There will always be something more; I’m trying to invent a teleport device now. We will always progress.
Society will keep moving. We may have lost our traditional since of solitude. But who is to say this is a bad thing? As time moves on we find ourselves rewriting what we once put in stone. The term “marriage” is being rewritten in front of our eyes as six states have approved same sex marriage. We might be sad to see the idea of complete, mental solitude vanish within our culture, but with technology we also have to advance. Get over it people you can never be completely alone. I would love for someone to prove me wrong. Just you can’t tell me about it because you wouldn’t be alone anymore. It gets complicated, just be happy with what you have. William stated “Solitude isn't easy, and isn't for everyone. It has undoubtedly never been the province of more than a few.” This isn’t correct. No one has ever been truly alone. Last time I checked human babies cannot survive on their own. Everyone has a relationship of some kind, even if it’s a bad one, they are not alone.