The Chronicle Discussion 1/21

[rippeyrachel]

In this quote "So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she's never alone." Deresiewicz is referring to the texting generation when he talks about a girl who is constantly connected through the technology of a cell phone. Personally, I do not fully know what its like to be in complete solitude seeing I always have my cell phone with me, and honestly I feel completely lost when I'm without it. It makes me wonder whether the lack of solitude in today's generation will result in negative effects. When he says "Solitude isn't easy, and isn't for everyone" he definitely has a point. Because of technology today, solitude is fairly difficult to find in such a technologically dependent society. But he implies that solitude is possible, you just have to want it.

[sian.barry]

Of all the insightful quotes that could be extracted from "The End of Solitude", one that had an profound impact on me was Deresiewicz's words: "Loneliness is not the absence of company, it is the grief over that absence" (5). Throughout the article, the author alludes to the fact that technology has taken away humanity's ability to be alone. This is true, and the most explicit example I can give is myself. When I am out and about on my own, waiting in line at a store, waiting for someone to come over, whatever it may be, I cannot stand the thought of being disconnected from other people. Therefore, I text people on my phone constantly, I look on Facebook; I do anything to not feel lonely or be alone. It is a natural characteristic that our generation has become accustomed to. However, I must agree with Deresiewicz's redefining of loneliness because there was a time when solitude was valued; when being alone was sacred. You are not lonely if you are alone, because some people enjoy being alone, and are thus, not lonely. Maybe today they don't enjoy it, but they did. Nonetheless, you can only be lonely if you feel sad about not having company and are unhappy about the fact that you are by yourself. Deresiewicz's insightful delineation between loneliness and being alone captivates the overall purpose of his article. In short, times have changed, and now being alone is despised and loneliness is the "negative experience of that state" (5).

[isabella.cuan]

"If boredom is the great emotion of the TV generation, loneliness is the great emotion of the Web generation. We lost the ability to be still, our capacity for idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude." In this quote, Deresiewicz parallels the emotions of two different generations, conveying their similarities as well as their impact on each audience. While TV has ironically resulted in boredom (it was created to cure boredom), the Internet has done the same, but this time, instilling a life of constant submersion and exposure. Thus, we no longer know how to be alone. Personally, there are times when I like to be alone, and as many don't seem to realize, aloneness does not provide the same meaning as loneliness. In fact, the Web has given rise to more loneliness than aloneness as we are constantly in contact with our friends, strangers, and the world in general, yet only through a screen do we feel superficially, not emotionally or physically connected. After the TV and the Internet and their accompanying impact on society, I only wonder what will come next. 

[Julie Daniels]

In an article titled “The End of Solitude”, author William Deresiewicz goes in depth to examine the concept of solitude and how much it has evolved over time. He explains that in modern society, there is almost no such thing as solitude, and he blames it on the advances of technology. I fully agree with him, and I believe this this is the only reason as to why people have changed so much. He further supports this by claiming, “[t]echnology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone” (1). The ability for one person to be alone today is almost unheard of. Through modern technology, people are able to communicate, analyze, announce and annoy others 24 hours a day, form anywhere in the world, and that leaves me feeling rather despondent. In ancient times, time alone was cherished, they called it “the examination of the self..” and it lead to “[a] solitary mind” (6). Everyone strived for this, no matter what religion, ethnicity, or culture one was; time spent in solitude was a way for one to understand and more fully devout themselves to a particular cause. That ability, has become lost in present-day civilization under all of the need to make oneself known. If you don’t have over 500 friends on Facebook or followers on twitter, you’re not cool. It’s as simple as that. In the end Deresiewicz concludes by exclaiming how it is not very nice to be detached from others today. (8) If your presence isn’t made know on any social media for any length of time, people will begin to think less of you and you will begin to separate from the masses. Which concludes in the feel of exclusion, which could cause serious emotional effects. 

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:51:56 PM UTC-5, rippeyrachel wrote:

[Mikaela Litchfield]

In the article "The End of Solitude", journalist Willia Deresiewicz writes about the modern relationship of communication and solitude. The means of communication that are so easily accessible has resulted in not only a lack of solitude, but the entire inablilty to be alone. "The two emotions, loneliness and boredom, are closely allied. They are also both characteristically modern." Not only social communication, but the rise of television, has subsequently cultivated an age that thrives on the intolerance of boredom. Deresiewicz further justifies this as something that has been conditioned into us by pointing out that "...boredom creates a market for stimulation", and a need for constant stimulation is vital in a consumer society. I thought that approaching the contemporary view of communication from the point of the contemporary view of solitude was a well-argued approach that had readers reconsidering the nearly inherent detachment from the idea of being alone

[brook...@gmail.com]

William Deresiewicz utilizes a handful of rhetoric devices and fallacies within his article, "The End of Solitude." One in particular that stood out to me, personally, was when he was explaining the difference between what solitude was to adolescents decades ago and what solitude is to the youth of America today. He uses a specific example of a child growing up during the period of world war. "The child who grew up between the world wars as a part of an extended family within a tight-knit urban community became the grandparent of a kid who sat alone in front of a big television, in a big house, on a big lot. We were lost in space" (Deresiewicz 4). Deresiewicz compares two generations while appealing to the past and he discusses the difference between "tight-knit" families now and then. Even back when this was the norm, families spent quality time together, sharing the gift of life, rather than sitting in front a television set destroying brain cells. In today's time, the quality time a family can spend together ranges from silently sitting at a dinner table or each family member watching what they want on their respective T.V. in their respective bedrooms, separated by walls, pipes, and distance.
Deresiewicz also employs the rhetoric device of anaphora to emphasize that everything in this 21st generation we are living in is much, much bigger. Consequently, families are further apart. Family time is now nearly impossible with all of the space given, although solitude is not an option with all of the technology given.

[Liz Anderson]

"Religious solitude is a kind of self correcting social mechanism, a way of burning out the underbrush of moral habit and spiritual custom. The seer returns with new tablets or dances, his face bright with the old truth"

This quote investigates the purpose of solitude in relation to religion. Solitude is often used as a form of repentment for your sins. Deresiewicz explains here that when you return to society it is not you that has changed. It is your old self, only with new attributes. This relates to the entire gist of the article because it aids in the opinion that solitude is used as a form of healing and renewing ones self. Without solitude, you cannot bette yourself or society you continue on living as you are without even subtle improvements. 

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:51:56 PM UTC-5, rippeyrachel wrote:

[Ben Skalla]

William Deresiewicz writes the article, "The End of Solitude", in an attempt to shed light on technology's effects on society and the negative feelings towards solitude that are shared by the younger generations.  As Deresiewicz points out, the contemporary definitions of the words loneliness and boredom did not become part of the Oxford English Dictionary until the late 19th century.  Today's society usually thinks of being alone as boring, because they are always surrounded by other people through cell phones and social networking.  However, Deresiewicz claims that "boredom is not a necessary consequence of having nothing to do, it is only the negative experience of that state."  Having nothing to do and no one to be around is not necessarily a bad thing.  It allows for complex thought as opposed to mindless television that we use everyday to avoid loneliness.  The media as a whole has shaped our generation to be bored and unsatisfied if we have nothing in particular going on.

[Matt Saba]

Deresiewicz uses many different forms and styles of rhetoric devices throughout this piece in order to accentuate the effect that technology is having on solitude. This quote is one such example, "What technologies of transportation exerted-we could live further and farther apart- technologies of communication redressed- we could bring ourselves closer and closer together." In this excerpt, Deresiewicz uses clear antithesis in order to show the reader the paradox that technology is causing to our lives. We can move tens, hundreds, or even thousands of miles away and still be able to interact in an instant through many different forms of media. This ability to leave those we know behind physically, but still be able to talk to them like they are next to us, would be unfathomable to someone who lived even 25 years ago. I believe that with the growth of long range impersonal communication, we are becoming sensitized to talking to what are essentially robots. When a text is sent there is no emotion, there is no feeling, it is just words on a screen sent to another faceless entity similar to the sender. When we use this technology to be social and come together, all we are really doing is moving farther and farther apart. 

[Alexandra Chin]

This article addresses the fact that within this new generation of teenagers we have something that none of our parents have had before. That is a way to connect with people whom you have never met, yet have the ability to call them your best friend. The ability to communicate with a local friend in less than a second and being able to count your friends by reading a computer generated number. Using emotive language Deresiewicz conveys the disparity a young teenager feels if a status goes unliked by facebook or if some doesn't follow them on twitter. Solitude is dying, or at least being redefined in a modern sense. To be alone would be to turn off your phone, laptop, and other various forms of electronic communication, but that would be the unthinkable, wouldn't it? 

[Randy May]

"The idea that you could go outside and run around the neighborhood with your friends, once unquestionable, has now become unthinkable."

 

This quote brings out the fact that America has lost its innocence and ability to be sociable through the modernization of the country. Children are beginning to choose to sit in front of a computer or a television rather than being social with other children by making real friends instead of Facebook friends. Children are trying to become more mature than they really are by using scoial media and cell phones at young ages, and in doing this, they are isolating themselves more and more by communicating with strangers instead of communicating with real friends. The more technology is invented aimed towards communication, the more people of America will become more isolated without even knowing.   

[katherine...@gmail.com]

"Today's young people seem to feel that they can make themselves fully known to one another. They seem to lack a sense of their own depths, and of the value of keeping them hidden." In this quote, Deresiewicz explains that the air of mystery that people used to maintain around their personal thoughts and ideas has been driven out by technology, and all that comes with it. I found this particular quote to be interesting because in school, we're always taught to express ourselves to the best of our ability, and to make our ideas known, and therefore ourselves known. His contradictory statement has made me think about what we're trained to do, and how the social media has allowed us to go beyond that. Deresiewicz believes that kids nowadays don't understand that there's more to them than what they can capture and post to their blog or facebook or whatnot. With a generation so eager to be known by each other, and so eager to share every single part of their lives, from pictures on Instagram, to funny quotes on Twitter, to "checking in" on Foursquare, it seems that his message is already lost. The internet and the ability to share everything instantly has infected everyone, not just kids, and made them believe that instant connection is what's best for them, and that they shouldn't hide, or rather even want to hide anything from anyone.

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:51:56 PM UTC-5, rippeyrachel wrote:

[elizabeth.smith.24]

"One can only save oneself — and whatever else happens, one can still always do that. But it takes a willingness to be unpopular."

In this quote, Deresiewicz is referring to the fact that the internet and electronics have begun to degrade society and that there will never be a time where the internet will go away. The internet has basically taken over lives, especially here in the United States, and when Deresiewicz states "one can only save oneself" he means that no one except yourself can force you to be alone. One must embrace being alone and having time to reflect on the events of the day and on life. Deresiewicz also expresses the idea that the internet has forced the human race into a contest for popularity- from having the most friends on Facebook to having the most followers on Twitter- and that in order to escape the mayhem that the internet sometimes causes, one may have to face being unpopular. In order to save oneself, you must be okay with rejecting the internet and popular social media sites unless absolutely necessary, and Deresiewicz points out that you are always in charge of yourself and therefore you can always reject the internet and the company that it brings. 

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:51:56 PM UTC-5, rippeyrachel wrote:

[Orion Farr]

"I once asked my students about the place that solitude has in their lives. One of them admitted that she finds the prospect of being alone so unsettling that she'll sit with a friend even when she has a paper to write. Another said, why would anyone want to be alone?"

This quote caught my attention immediately upon reading the first page, is this not a parallel between the novel A Brave New World and our world? In the World State, people were conditioned to be predisposed to a community rather than a self being. They had a mob-mentality, everyone thought the same, stayed the same, and lived the same. They did all of this together as one, and the idea of being alone was completely alien to their mindset. So much so that people like Marx and the Savage could not 'fit-in' as loners. The same idea is prevalent throughout this article. Are we an over-exposed society, has communication become redundant? And have we created "crutches" to hide from these facts as well as the solitude our ancestors have used before? Deresiewicz has invoked, in his article, that today's world lacks the ability to look into one's self to solve problems, instead we must use other people as strength. He feels like, that even though we are a social species, we rely too heavily on others to the point where it no longer serves as an aid. He tries to tell the reader that we must return to a simpler time, where solitude, and the idea of the lone mind were not scary thoughts. He specifically points to the time of  transcendentalism, where literature and culture was based of solitude and being content with yourself. The author has a very interesting take on the way our society today uses communication, though I cannot fully agree with him. I feel like there must be a balance between the social and personal parts of life, so their cannot be a preference over one. We are a social species  and that along with our own thoughts allowed humans to survive today, and hopefully will continue as long as a balance is met. I do agree that society may be too involved in technology as a crutch for a fear of being alone or social ineptitude, but eventually as a culture we will use it to better ourselves.

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[grace miller]

" We, however, have made of geniality--- the week smile, the polite interest, the fake invitation--- a cardinal virtue. Friendship may be slipping from our grasp, but our friendliness is universal."
 In this quote Deresiewicz really expresses the absence of solitude as destructive but also does not condemn it as a horrible thing. Thorough this paper it is clear Deresiewicz that believes that solitude is a very important part of each life but this quote is ironic with the word choice he uses and the way he phrases this idea. everyone puts on a friendly face but no one has any friends. Although this isn't expressed as a bad thing once i thought about it, the point was clearly received. who would want to be treated nice yet not have anyone you are really close with? He talks about how the internet has stripped us of solitude. how any person can in a since live every waking moment with another and never break contact with the another human. These new life habits are bringing about a generation of co dependence and attachment to the social happenings yet an absence of solitude and detachment from raw human connection and interaction.

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[stephen.voc]

Throughout the course of his entire piece, "The End of Solitude,"  Deresiewicz reveals the flaws of a society that has deemed solitude disastrous.  The author explores how such a society came into existence, referencing religion, the rise of suburbs, and the Internet in order to lay a foundation to prove the notion that being alone is an essential part of everyday life.  However, Deresiewicz does not criticize society; he rather points out that it could be better.  He even goes as far as to justify the actions of people that fear being alone, stating that: "Visibility secures our self-esteem, becoming a substitute, twice removed, for genuine connection.  Not long ago it was easy to feel lonely.  Now, it is impossible to be alone" (4).  By means of this quote, Deresiewicz proposes a reason as to why humans have resorted to the Internet in order to make themselves seen, and thus feel important.  But all of this is at the expense of solitude.  Deresiewicz implies that when everyone can constantly see what you are doing, you feel pressured to restrain certain things about yourself, erasing components of your personality that you discover in sweet solitude and that make you stand out.  Clearly, Deresiewicz has a clear purpose in this piece to reveal that society could be better if everyone was not so afraid of being alone.

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:51:56 PM UTC-5, rippeyrachel wrote:

[jamiemelville1]

"What technologies of tranportation exacerbated - we could live farther and farther apart - technologies technologies of communication redressed - we could bring ourselves closer and closer together. Or at least, so we have imagined." 

This quote by William Deresiewicz is a saturated couple sentences that reveal both the positives and the negatives of technology. Positively, it shows how technology (transportation and communication) has allowed people to be far apart, yet still communicate with one another. Negatively though, it depicts a false sense of coming closer. It picks apart how a phone call cannot replace a face-to-face conversation, nor can the internet establish friendships. This specific quote implies that is a grey area whether technology gets rid of solitude, because even if one doesn't feel lonely with constant communication, they can still be living in solitude.

[Dylan Panicucci]

"What does friendship mean when you have 532 "friends"?"

In this quote Deresiewicz expresses the fact that Facebook friends are not really your friends at all.  He believes friendship should be reserved for the people that have a certain level of intimacy with you.  However, today people are simply worried about getting out there.  They are "friends" with people that they do not really talk to, some that they do not even know.  As Deresiewicz puts it, people just want to make themselves miniature celebrities.  In the future what will happen to real friends?  Will everyone put on fake emotions simply to please people and remain sociable and popular?  Will everyone be friends?  We are progressing towards a society where we know practically everything about everyone's lives even down to the pointless, minute details; we all try to get along regardless of how we feel; we never want to be alone or have privacy.  Seems a lot like the books we have been reading...

[OliviaPasserini]

            William Deresiewicz makes many interesting points through the use of rhetorical devices in his article, The End of Solitude. One that I thought was very interesting was when he explains his views on boredom and loneliness. He uses comparisons and repetition of his idea to get his point across. He explains how boredom is not the act of having nothing to do, it’s the negative perception of having nothing to do. It is completely possible to have nothing to do or to do nothing, yet not be bored. It all has to do with the way that one perceives things. The same thing applies to loneliness, as loneliness is not the act of being alone, but it is the negative perception of being alone. And current generations of people tend to have incredibly negative views on having nothing to do and on being alone. I thought that this was an incredibly interesting point and also proves to be very true. People need to begin to enjoy solitude again, because it is in solitude that one is fully able to explore themselves and who they really are.

[brook...@gmail.com]

I strongly agree with Deresiewicz and Liz in this idea. Solitude is often a useful method of self-healing. This is not always religious solitude, as well. The best way to better your inner-self and clear your conscious is spend time apart from the social issues and society to got you to the state that needed self-healing and a clear conscience. Personally, I often times feel the inclination to separate myself from bullshit social media and relax, slipping into my own mind, thoughts, and satisfy my personal needs, not the needs of my Tumblr or Facebook account. This is not in any way religious, although it does correspond with Deresiewicz and Liz's idea in this quote.

[jamiemelville1]

In Kathy's quote I feel like it's really thought provoking, because it claims that the internet generation lack an understanding of depth, but I feel like that's from the point of view of someone who isn't part of that generation. Even if the internet has been a strong part of this generation's lives and allow people to express themselves via the internet curtain, I don't think that takes away from a sense of depth, but rather just gives people confidence and removes the fear of initial reaction. Obviously there are pros and cons to it, but I think it's unfair claim.