I would rather live in a different time. I have no extreme qualms about our certain time of existence, but I will not lie and say that I love it. In fact, I rather hate this period of time the world (i.e. America) has found itself in.
There is too much happening in the world and it has become our daily duty to stay atop of all of it. The hardest part is sifting through what is the truth and what is a lie. I hate social media. Not so much because of what it is, but because so many find it a prerequisite for entering society.
I have a Twitter page, which is used to post these blog posts. I have an Instagram account, which hasn't had a photo placed on it in months - lots of months. I have a YouTube account, but loading videos is done on the extreme rare case of necessity. And Facebook. It serves its purpose for me, but the communication within that service has become like a terrible storm of bad news and false political claims. Social media has become quite overkill in nearly every category and conversation.
The news - radio and television - wants one thing: your vote. They want you to be on their side. Right or left. Republican or Democrat. Gay or straight. White or black. Pro-choice or pro-life. Liberal or conservative. And we, individually through social media, have become part of the news. Our voices stand out so loudly, especially when we have nothing at all to say or add to the matter, but add it anyway.
There is too much happening in this world and we all feel the need to be a part of it. The world doesn't need us for that. The world needs sanity, and there is too little of that readily available.
I won't consider myself the voice of reason, but I will stand by myself and say that I wish that I lived in a different, quieter, slower, less progressive, less influenced time. Or perhaps the current time, with the current medicinal advances, but with all those aforementioned added to it, and all the hurried, scurried, and fear-driven ways of this current time removed.
I remember the time, not too long ago, when I was a kid and the idea of social media was nowhere on the horizon. The computer was still underdeveloped (compared to now) and the Internet had yet to be touched by the glorious hands of Al Gore.
I remember being overwhelmed still by the pull of school, church, and my brother forcing me to lose at basketball - either outside or on our Nintendo. I was overwhelmed by what kids today practically ignore. And it is allowed to be ignored because this is the age we live in. This is their age and they will not know a different one. They will not understand the silence, for they have been forced to be immune to it.
When I say forced, I don't meant by the threat of blunt force trauma. But forced because this constant voice, this traffic jam of disjointed and overly connected humanity, calls to them to follow.
I have heard the voice to follow and I have stomached its request. I have followed. I have joined the race to which there is no finish. It is simply a circle with checkpoints. But I must rest. We must rest. We must break the current trend of noise and find a silence that will resonate, not just within us, but with everyone around us.
There is so much more to learn in this world than spending your time learning about nothing. That really sums up our current information age. It is a constant feeding frenzy of information without even the slightest ingredient of knowledge or wisdom. I see that the more we learn, the less we know. It is evident - overly evident - in our social media interactions.
If you do not understand or see this, I do hope it is because you have yet to invoke the false need of what is required in this information age. But if you find that what is currently processed out of the mouths and fingers of one ignorant person after another and the constant media storm pounding on your perverbial front door begging that you leave your umbrella at home is quite permittable and necessary, then you and I have nothing else to say to one another.
You don't have to pick a side. You don't have to argue your point in a conversation that is remembered and regarded by no one. In fact, on most accounts, it is best to not even be part of the conversation.
Living in a different time won't happen, but that doesn't mean that we can't create a different time for ourselves.