Our generation is one of the most connected: we snapchat each other 24/7 to keep our streaks; we stay updated on our friends’ lives through their instagrams; we facetime each other when we’re too lazy to text; we rant on Twitter to our handful of loyal followers; we constantly feel our phones are buzzing with texts, groupme messages, tinder notifications, snaps, likes, and tags. Unless it’s one of those days when we hide away in our rooms binging Netflix, we are pretty much always communicating with someone.
However, I noticed something really odd when I got to Michigan – no one in the dining hall talks to each other. Let me paint you a picture:
You walk into East alone on a crowded night, headphones in, armed and ready with your MCard. Once you get your food, you look for a place to sit and notice that the only open seat is at one of the long tables in the back. You walk over to the kids at the table, ask if you can sit there, and… no response. Literally no one at the table looks up from their phones to recognize that you said something, let alone answers the question. You then sit down and, rattled as all hell, look around at the kids surrounding you in attempts of figuring out why no one even acknowledged your presence. No one is talking; everyone is just shoving questionable food down their throats with their headphones in. They are engulfed in their music, their Netflix, their x,y, and z, but not the people around them.
This incredibly uncomfortable scenario is what I experienced when I arrived at Michigan. Although we may be extremely connected to each other through social media, we are so absorbed in our phones that we forget how normal human beings communicate. I hate this. We should all hate this. We should be able to go anywhere on campus, sit down next to a stranger, and introduce ourselves – ask her what her name is, where she’s from, what her major is, etc. No, you don’t have to reveal your whole life story to the person next to you, but you should be able to just talk. I know that it’s hard to imagine, but think about how pleasant it would be if when you asked if you could sit at that table in the dining hall, someone took off their headphones, said yes, introduced themselves, and ~maybe ~ asked you how your day was. It’s a wild thought, I know.
It’s honestly sad that this is so abnormal for our generation; we’re so connected yet we can’t even speak to one another. We need to recognize this as a legitimate issue and dedicate ourselves simply to saying “hey what’s up? I’m _______.” If we can do that, our lives might just be that much more meaningful and, hopefully, we’ll stop feeling like this version of JT when we’re alone in the dining hall.
Images courtesy of huffingtonpost.com and giphy.com