The Age of Isolation | Teen Ink

The Age of Isolation

January 25, 2012
By Mayo-Lee SILVER, Cleveland, Ohio
Mayo-Lee SILVER, Cleveland, Ohio
5 articles 0 photos 1 comment

How is it that in a world full of endless communication devices one can feel so alone? I look at all the people on Facebook chat whom are online and yet I feel as though I could never speak to any of them. My twitter timeline is updated every millisecond with the personal thoughts of others and despite the fact that they are sharing such an intimate snapshot of their innermost feelings, I feel as though we’re so far away. How is this possible? With instant messaging, text messaging, cellular phones, how am I overcome with this inescapable feeling of neglect. Sometimes I think these infinite ways to communicate only highlight our sense of isolation. How unimportant do you feel when you have a phone full of contacts and yet it barely rings? How hopeless do you feel when you send a text message to the person you care deeply for and you get no response? How vulnerable do you feel when you subliminally cry for help in your blogs, statuses, tweets and out of your 2million followers, no one responds? Shouldn’t these communication devices bring us closer? I just feel as though I’m surrounded by billions of people who chose to ignore my existence, or are too wrapped up in their own feelings to even acknowledge mine. Technologically we have come so far yet we continue to lag socially. If anything I’d say we’re more afraid of intimacy than ever. It is safer to sit behind a screen and be honest than it is to do it face to face. So in reality, technology has only made us lazy; it has become our crutch for we no longer have to face our fears of getting to know a person intimately. We no longer even have to go out of the comfort of our homes to make “friends”. We can spend hours staring at words from a complete stranger in another state, another town, another country. The internet is supposedly making the world smaller, I think it’s making the world impossible to reach.


The author's comments:
Just a commentary on frustration technology sometimes causes me

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.