I haven't blogged in awhile and I'm feeling guilty and I hate that I'm feeling guilty for this. As I mentioned in my initial post, blogging (and email) is not my preferred mode of communication and I seriously feel like an alien for saying this. I'm knee-deep in a research project for my job at CGU and am combing through old issues of academic journals. Yesterday I came across an article from the Jan 30, 2009 issue ofThe Chronicle called The End of Solitude by William Deresiewicz. He discusses the voracious need for 'more and broader connectivity' and this idea of there being an absence of solitude (particularly among teenagers). This was written over a year ago. :) Here's an excerpt:"So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning, noon, and night, weekdays and weekends, class time, lunchtime, 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."
I think it's important here to acknowledge a distinction between solitude and 'being alone' because they simply are not the same thing. To me, texting and social networking sites give a very false sense of 'being connected' but in actuality are very isolating. There is this illusion of not being alone but really, that's exactly what you are...alone...in front of your computer staring at the screen...alone. Did I mention alone? If you're not personally, physically in the presence of others than you're not really 'with' them, are you? Some would argue that even then (especially when you're texting while you're with someone, which I personally find offensive) people are still disconnected. I can talk for hours to someone and feel some sense of connection with them, but I can't see their face, read their body language, etc. so in that respect I'm just subscribing to this illusion that I'm totally connected to someone and not alone when I'm by myself. So then, what exactly is this idea of solitude that Deresciewecz wants back?
What if we didn't have computers to connect us with the world? What would we do? How would we behave? Try going without your computer for one week and see what, if anything, is different about how you interact with the world. I dare you. I guess I'm more than a little miffed because we've let technology interfere and replace personal connection. I'm a hugger, an affectionate person who likes to see people's faces and hear them laugh...for real...it gives me joy...and I'm feeling malnourished and frustrated. I do not get this joy from touching my computer buttons.
These poor teenagers are being duped into believing that they are not alone because they have a phone in their hand. But who am I to talk, I just banned myself from facebook for two weeks to finish my research papers for grad school and feel like I'm going through withdrawl. It is seriously everything I can do to discipline myself not to even check the newsfeed to see what my friends are up to (even if I don't respond). In essence, to 'feel connected'. It's a lie!! ;) Even when I'm on facebook or checking emails, no matter how many messages I receive it never seems to be enough (she says in her addictive state). I still feel isolated, lonely and disconnected. I hate that we have come to this but I don't know what to do about it...
Maybe its just me.
