We are a product of our environment. We have an identity or at least we develop an identity by the influences of the world around us. Getting to know one another, and actually talk to the individuals that we are surrounded by; the Art of Conversation. It is an art to be able to communicate a thought to another individual, not just make noise but actually get a point across.
In these modern times, we don't have face to face conversations, we have social media and an endless menu of electronic devises to do the talking for us. Like anything else if you don't use it you lose it. It's becoming more and more apparent that we are losing the skills required to communicate with one another. Hiding behind the electronic veil we become someone else. In a matter of hours you can be anyone from anywhere from anytime. I can make profiles that say I'm a Brazilian supermodel, and there is no one out there that can contest that I'm not. I have all the pictures and i have all the blog content to back it up, but how real is it?
One can make a profile on a website and say you are anyone you please, but you have not walked in those shoes. You have not lived the life of, so you can only be what is a superficial or an approximation of, not the real thing. That is where you lose substance, and when you take this faux image and try to apply it to the real world, you will always be at a lose; socially awkward.
Not having taken the time to get to know people and develop the social skills is a hinderance when it comes to being around other people. How can one make a REAL connection to someone when we aren't even ourselves anymore?
Social Media like Facebook and Twitter have bridged the geographical and sociological barriers between people all over the world, but they have done nothing for our actual interactions. How many hours do we spend in front of our computer screens "socializing" with one another and not actually being with one another? How then do we perpetuate a sense of brotherhood, when we can't even communicate with one another, or rip ourselves from the LCD screen long enough to make a connection? I have heard often that Leather bars are empty and it has a lot to do with the mass of men not bothering to go out to find one another for companionship, friendship, or even sexual encounters; there's an ap. for that now. Men don't leave their homes to find each other, we do it by browsing a series of horribly outdated pictures. We don't interact, and if we don't interact we don't have bonds that bind; we become expendable.
The Entitled Generation expects all things to come to them, and maybe they will but there is nothing to keep it there. In the past we would gather, interact, and learn to be a band of brothers. Men would learn to appreciate each other, love each other and help each other to succeed and thrive. That has now been reduced to a twenty minute hook up where you may or may not get the guys name in the end. As fun as it may be, we reduce others to the level of a cigar; indulge and through away, who keeps the butt anyway?
As our addiction to the social media continues, perhaps it's time for an intervention. Raise your head form the screen and look a man in the eyes when he is speaking to you. Break the cycle and trade the time you spend on a hook up site interacting with actual people in real time, that's how you know if they really look like their picture or not; no surprises. Learn to talk again without having to hide behind the proverbial veil of anonymity, and perhaps we will learn to value each other again and become less expendable and more reliable. When we are there with each other, we are there for each other and helping each other to perpetuate our culture again. When we know each other we become less of a bother and more of a brother. Take time to be yourself again and not just an approximation or a facsimile of someone you never were but instead learn to be who you could be.
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