Your voices

There's nothing better than a good phone call with your brother, a relaxing weekend with a dear friend, lunch with a old acquaintance, receiving a letter, or a long walk to no specific destination with curious children. Human relationships drive my well being. What could be more important than stopping to listen to a friend or taking time to make a new one? I consider myself fortunate to be at a comfortable place with the people in my story. I am at a point where fully expressing myself is natural. I know who to call when I need advice about a bump in the road or have exciting news to share. These same people think of me when they come across things they think I might like, call me when they have news to share, or simply want to vent. I genuinely care about what's going on in the lives of my friends and family, heck with their families too. In addition to having relationships with people my own age, I seek wisdom and find pleasure in connecting with those older than me, along with further developing the relations with the youth in my life. After all, they are the next generation, in which I can only hope for better results.

My own generation intimidates and at the same time, very much scares me. Those from an older class might argue it's too early to dismiss what my generation has the potential to accomplish. I disagree. We care about all the wrong things. The conversations I overhear and sometimes have to partake in dismantle me. I'm not ranting because very few people are not on board with my tree hugging ways or want to chatter endlessly about the developing world. The obsession over the materials we possess, clothes we wear/how we look, and last or tomorrow nights activities are ridiculous. They're repetitive and never ending. I consider myself to be an overall joyous person, maybe not all the time but for the most part. My goals in life are simply more open ended, a get there when the time seems right kind of a deal. All the dissatisfaction with my generation is the constant comparing, trying to be something they're not, looking but never playing the part.

We're generation 'seek approval.' A huge part of this is a result of the all the wonderful information directly at our fingertips. Thank you desktop computers with dial up internet to sleek new laptops with wireless internet and now on to smart phones equipped with 3G internet. I have no doubt that in my lifetime televisions and cars will be internet savvy. All this access is overused and abused.

Besides all the immature conversation I'm forced to tune out, there is more background noise than ever before on the internet. We spend countless hours social networking. I check Facebook everyday, only to find the same boring surprises. I question while trying very hard not to judge the purpose behind posting you went to the gym, you're away on vacation, or you're having a baby. The pictures are fun, until a certain point. I don't need to see every single picture you have ever taken--especially when they are blurry or cut someone out. It seems to me, this is all a huge cry for attention, a portrayal of an image for the way life is supposed to look.

As a result of being 'plugged in' I carry with me this heavy burden. I am not so sure why I am convinced there has to be a method to all this madness. I'll admit the internet (and how far it has come) is genius, but can we find a happy medium between the real world and the internet? What are we all trying to prove? Whether your point is to stay connected with friends, make connections with new friends, send out party invitations, or compete about who has the most amazing life, it doesn't need to be broadcasted everywhere. Stop streaming it and live it.

After reconnecting in person with people in my book and spending countless hours yapping away on my phone (for those temporarily too distant), probably all too often voicing my complaints in the ever changing world I'm still very unhappy with it all.

My grievance extends to cell phones too. Though my smart phone and I are very tight, I refuse to be a slave to my phone. We are all so busy, well you might be--I'm not. You're not busy enough to get ample pointless internet time in each day, but so rundown that an eight minute phone call seems taxing. Or even worse, having to spend real time in the company of others. It's quite clear I have no solutions. Basics requests though, for sure. When I'm living life, in person with you I don't want to see your stupid phone. The point of this period we carved out is to spend time together, not to keep up with the rest of the world.

I value relationships, new and old. As much as I value the human relationships, it's the stories and new ideas that come along with each person. Time spent in the company of others or connected through a phoneline is when I'm the happiest. I realize this does not stand true for everyone.

When your broadcasted all over the internet and you have nothing left to say that I freak out. If all of our concern is in our outward appearance, how we look online or on paper... what's left to live and share?