What I've Come To Realize

Howdy there. It's been good for the past week and a bit and the relaxation meter is near full. It's been pleasant being back home.

There have been a few things I've noticed when I come home every year though, observations if you will. Nothing crazy profound, mind you, though interesting enough to mention. People are social creatures, and they can't get away from this. For the most part, if you look at someone who has little social interaction for quite a while (except wilderness men, though the animals are their friends) then you most likely find someone who is sad and lonely. We're designed for other people and other people for ourselves. So, if this is the case then we must interact with each other to have some sort of personal benefit. This can be carried out in a number of ways, whether it be board games, a trip to a movie, a drink with a friend, or simply hearty conversation. However, it seems like the more our culture progresses forward with communication, we loose something essentially human. Bear (rawr) with me for a second. The amount of face to face conversation and communication has gone down, replaced with texting, msn, phones and even the occational gift basket. Facebook encourages one to have many "friends" in which light, fluffy conversations can be had. However, amidst all this, it seems that a fear of being ourselves and being open with each other has developed. Our friends can simply be those who we have a drink with, or do activities and often hinder conversation. Along with this, the conversation that is often produced from such meetings can be irrelavant to any of our cognitive needs, but rather relates better to our physical needs, such as food, excersize, or housing. Throw in a few luxeries such as materialism and technology, and you can have someone who is in contact with many people but has had little true connections with people. I love technology, but it almost seems like we've lost something.