Alone in the Crowd

The writer says it all in just a few words, ‘our ability to be elsewhere at any point in time.’ You could spend hours, days, weeks reading and researching the consequences and effects technology has had in our culture but this being ‘elsewhere’ is all we really need to focus on. In a culture and society that tries to emphasize the importance of being here and in the now, this is simply not the case. With technology and being busy twenty four/seven, we live in a very face paced world that doesn’t allow for stillness, tranquility or enjoying the presence of other people. Alone in the crowd discusses and explains that we as Americans in particular not only need to learn to disconnect but truly learn to be here and live in the moment. Elswhere, we’re in a constant state of this place, even we’re sitting at home on the couch watching television with the family, guaranteed someone is on their phone, playing a game, looking a magazine and do something other than enjoying the time with their family in that exact moment.

      This is significant and imperative to teach children in our culture today. Children are forever in the elsewhere, they have ADD and other anxiety related problems because we are not focusing our attention on teaching them the importance of being in the moment. We teach them it’s important to busy, multitask and constantly be on the move. Parents, we must change this way of thinking, teaching them to complete a task one at a time and being in the present moment is the most important thing to teach our kids. It’s our responsibility to not let them become victims of technology and living between ten different apps, games and sites on their tablets.

(image via google, article via apa)