Every January, my mother picks out a word that she’ll focus on for the duration of the calendar year. It helps keep her priorities in check among all of the uncertainties that each new month brings. My word for this year is “community.”
We must live in community. If the results of the 2024 American Presidential election showed us anything, it’s that people are too caught up in their own personal lives to consider the perspectives of others. People are going out to socialize at lower rates and experiencing more isolation. Things felt so dire in 2023 that former U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy declared loneliness an epidemic. As sick as I am of the proliferation of think-pieces reducing Gen-Z to worthless screenagers, it’s worth considering the impact our hyper-digital lives have on our collective well-being.
I’m not a huge believer in New Year’s resolutions. So often, I’ve set unattainable goals for myself and lacked the motivation to follow through on them. Recently I found myself thinking more and more about the term ‘community’ and our distinct lack of it when it comes to the widespread polarization in this country. This year, I’m choosing to spread the gospel of community to anyone who will listen, because I think it can solve a lot of the problems currently plaguing humanity.
The Covid-19 pandemic transformed the way we interact with one another, and we haven’t quite reverted back to the way things were prior to 2020. Social media only seems to have made things worse; I know this is a bitter pill to swallow. I’m an active Instagram user, and former Twitter and TikTok addict. I use these apps to keep up with my long distance friendships and feel connected to the cultural zeitgeist. I also subscribe to the belief that most things are good in moderation. However, we know that excessive scrolling has negative psychological effects, and it’s time to stop pretending that a 7+ hours of daily screen time is healthy.
The hard truth is that our online presence isn’t reality. A comment section is hardly an equal substitute for real-world interactions. Not to mention that the way some strangers talk to each other on social media is downright horrific. The internet is where chivalry goes to die. This isn’t to say that I abstain from a mindless scroll. I’m still coming to terms with what it means to be an active participant in society while also documenting the highlights for my online audience. What I wish more people understood is that community is the only permanent solution for a lonely world.
Research shows that belonging to a community and serving others leads to increased happiness and satisfaction. Community can take on many forms: you can find it in the workplace, through volunteering, in sports teams, and in other recreational pockets. There are eight billion people in the world; chances are you’ll get along with at least one of them.
We have to exist in community. We have to care about something bigger than ourselves, or else everything is pointless. We have to wake up every day and choose to participate in the collective struggle of humanity. We have to work for a better world. Community is my message, my mantra, and my bible. We have to get out there and build it.