The one
major problem that I have personally come across with my generation is that no
one wants to get personal with anyone, anymore. It’s all about superficiality.
The ‘hi’s and ‘hello’s that we so enthusiastically share with one another when
we meet at coffee shops or clubs have stopped being precursors of long and
heartfelt discussion and tend to be faker than plastic flowers. The consequence
of this shallow approach to life is that people are feeling lonelier than ever
before. The whole concept of ‘community’ has gone to trash and even though we
live in one, the feeling of belongingness has ceased to exist.
I, for
one, have always been an introvert. I love my own company over everything else.
However, I do feel the need to go out and about and interact with people from
time to time. As John Donne once said, “no man is an island.” But what I found
out as I started living alone in a new city is that the whole concept of social
interaction has become a sham. No one cares what an individual is going through.
We post lovely pictures on our several social media platforms to paint a
generic ‘happening’ and ‘happy’ lives for ourselves. But if we sat down for a
moment and introspected, we would find that our lives are uniquely unhappening,
for most parts. The societal construct of today has trained our psyche to look
at our mundane life in a very negative light. And this is exactly what most of
our insecurities and unhappiness stem from. We have conditioned ourselves to
feel good about things which are, more often than not, extremely toxic in
nature. Being a social media enthusiast is wrong. Of course it is not. But
using that platform to promote an unrealistic approach to life isn’t
acceptable, either.
Today the
world is a much smaller place than what it was about a couple of decades ago.
We can literally interact with anyone anywhere on the globe in a matter of
seconds. Technology has made that possible. Yet, the human race has never been
lonelier. Depression and anxiety has our generation caught in an invisible noose,
waiting for that last tug. Yet, we choose to WhatsApp our friends memes rather
than call them and just ask, “How have you been?” Why has humanity come to
this?
I am just a 22-year
old who has ticked about every single cliché in the book and still believes
that she is unique. Also, I am an English grad from Maharaja Sayajirao
University who is addicted to reading and writing and has recently rediscovered
the pleasure and peace of drawing my heart out.
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