Brittney Gann 10-02-12 Connie Rothwell English 1103

Weekly Writing
After reading The End of Solitude, my mind was literally blown. Deresiewicz basically went through each stage of life, from the Romantic eriod until now. !e tal"ed about how #eo#le now are really afraid to be alone, and how o$er the years, solitude has become something of the #ast. Technology has really ta"en o$er our society, and % agree with him when he said that it might be too much of a good thing. !e described how the great age of boredom, came in with tele$ision, #recisely because tele$ision was designed to #alliate that feeling. That is so true. E$en though he was tal"ing about the &'s and the ('s, when he grew u#, that is still $ery true today. )i"e he said, #eo#le are so afraid with the thought of being bored that they immediately turn on the tele$ision when they thin" they might not ha$e anything to do. % lo$e how he said The idea that you could go outside and run around with your friends, once un*uestionable, has now become unthin"able. The child who grew u# between the world wars as a #art of an e+tended family within a tight,"nit urban community became the grand#arent of a "id who sat alone in front of a big tele$ision, in a big house. That is so true, its unbelie$able. -y grand#arents tell me about how they used to go out into

the streets with the "ids in their neighborhood, and #lay a big game of "ic"ball. Today that would be absolutely unheard of. %t.s really sad, because % #ersonally would lo$e to go out and do stuff li"e that, but its too dangerous and nobody li$es in close communities li"e that anymore. After that, he addressed the %nternet, and how loneliness is the great emotion of the /eb generation. /hat he said about this was so dead,on. !e said, The internet arri$ed as an incalculable blessing. /e should ne$er forget that. %t has allowed isolated #eo#le to communicate with one another and marginalized #eo#le to find one another. 0ut the #roblem is that now the goal for the internet is to sim#ly become "nown, to turn oneself into a sort of miniature celebrity. This is com#letely how we use the %nternet today. /e ha$e tons of friends on 1aceboo" and followers on twitter, but how many of those friends are actually our friends. % lo$e how he said, /hat does friendshi# mean when you ha$e 234 friends5 That is definitely a *uestion that we all need to as" oursel$es. /hat is our definition of friendshi#5 %s it #eo#le that you "now through other #eo#le, or is it genuinely getting to "now someone on a #ersonal le$el5 That is something our society definitely needs to *uestion. !e ties it all u# by tal"ing about how we no longer belie$e in the solitary mind, or the fact that solitude could be a good thing at all. -ost #eo#le in this generation hate the thought of being alone. !e does a really great 6ob of e+#laining this when he said, /e ha$e lost the ability to be still, our ca#acity for idleness. They ha$e lost the ability to be alone, their

ca#acity for solitude. This could not ha$e been said any better. 7ur society as a whole no longer belie$es that being alone is anything you could benefit from. /hy would someone not want to 6ournal or write letters, when they could be te+ting or 1aceboo"ing5 !e said it com#letely when he said, They ha$e lost the e+amination of the self that is #laced at the center of s#iritual life 8 of wisdom, of conduct. % #ersonally agree with what Deresiewicz one hundred #ercent when it comes to this article, and it really is sad. )i"e he said, Today.s young #eo#le seem to feel that they can ma"e themsel$es fully "nown to one another. They lac" a sense of their own de#ths, and of the $alue of "ee#ing them hidden. 7ur generation tells e$erything9 E$erything is #ut on the %nternet for e$eryone to see, and nothing is #ersonal anymore. % belie$e that this is why #eo#le are so insecure with themsel$es. eo#le #ut e$erything

they ha$e out on the line and don.t e$en "now who they are indi$idually. %ts all about conforming to society to fit in, and ne$er about 6ust ste##ing bac" and figuring out who you, yourself are. % lo$e how he ends the article by showing the hard #arts about a life of solitude. !e said, The last thing to say about solitude is that it isn.t $ery #olite. )i"e he said later on in that #aragra#h, /e, howe$er, ha$e made of geniality 8 the wea" smile, the #olite interest, the fa"e in$itation 8 a cardinal $irtue. This is the best thing in this #a#er to me. %t is com#letely true. 7ur society is made u# of tons of #eo#le who are afraid to say no to anything9 /e.re scared we will hurt somebodies feelings, or we don.t want to ma"e

anyone u#set. /e need to sto# worrying about how e$eryone else is going to feel about e$erything that we do, and worry a little bit about oursel$es. %f you don.t care how someone.s day is going, why as"5 %t ma"es no sense to me, but this is what our society is conformed to do, so li"e he said at the $ery end Those who would find solitude must not be afraid to stand alone.