x and y

Our generation is spread so thin.

Yes, we can touch whatever we want whenever we want it. We know so many people, we have so many interests. Limitless connection, endless advancement. So many beautiful things.

Competing things. Each area of interest is a flurry of individuals vying for attention. There may be more opportunity in this internet-driven time, but any real opportunity is taken up quickly by the best of the best. The rest of us are faced with the realization of globalization's ruthlessness. It's like we're boiled down to thousands of beads, each auditioning to be a pearl.

Even if this isn't true - if opportunities are only as diverse as the needs that are also springing up - we're still left with endless directions to head. Most of us are nearly forced (maybe by our own instincts for self-preservation) to dive into multiple areas of interest at once, following the latest and best, hoping to reflect it all in a way that would make us feel more complete. We become a collage of lifestyles, continuous adaptive suck-ups, if you will - we seem to observe people we admire and imitate what they imitate. Those who follow are getting as much credit as those who lead. How interesting.

Something else that bothers me about our day - the decline of the event. I feel as if we've become so continuous in our communications, so satisfied in our contact, that seeing one another is not as monumental of an occurrence. A friend's personality can still be felt through a text, and we get a small sense of what it's like being with them in person. Over time, this may compound and translate eventually into a casual meeting after years of actual separation, instead of a huge party celebrating a reunion. Perhaps this is best, I don't know. But it seems unsettling to me, that we compensate for physical presence and attention with virtual snapshots. We might be becoming lazy, spoiled. I've had a small fear in the back of my mind for a while - that we might be depending too much on technology to define our relationships and livelihoods. It's a great supplement, but I fear it may threaten replacement.