I was listening to NPR on my way home from substitute teaching and there was a woman on talking about the effects technology is having on the younger generation and on family relationships and I think she hit on something extremely important. She made a comment that technology is not allowing young kids to learn how to be by themselves in a healthy and formative way. This woman made the distinction between being alone and being by oneself because she said you can be by yourself and not feel lonely. Unfortunately, with almost unlimited access to communication today kids are not given many opportunities to just be by themselves and not feel alone.
I resonate with this problem because it is something I myself have struggled with. I have always sought to surround myself with others because I thought that was what I should do. It took me a long time before I was able to appreciate being by myself--alone but not lonely. This is an incredibly important skill to learn because we should have a balance between shared time and "me" time.
I think this problem also links with our society's fear of single-ness. Being single, does not mean that you will be completely alone. That can happen, but it is not a natural side effect of being single. I think we as a society should support people who are single because that is when community is most important.
Although I will confess that I want to share my adventures and experiences with others which can be difficult. I want to experience so many different things, but I don't want to do it by myself. I have done it before, but I find it more rewarding to be able to share those experiences with someone else. Yet, it is becoming more clear to me that I am going to have to figure out how to do that on my own without feeling too lonely.
