Connections and cooperation: Working together should not be second best to pursuing individuality

Lucas Hamilton/Entertainment Editor

Throughout my life, I have always wondered why it was so common to see people argue unrelentingly rather than settle their differences with communication and open minds. It has perplexed me at how the human race is so undeniably stubborn. I love seeing people come together in the face of adversity and disaster, but I feel that it only happens when the worst has come and nothing other than cooperation will help. People have become too self-centered in their ways. Where has all the unity gone? Technology has come to rule everything we are. In our world of endless connections, where have the connections gone?

People have become obsessed with their inanimate technology instead of their real human connections.

It appears as if we made technology able to simultaneously connect us constantly to anyone imaginable and imprison us within the boundaries of typed, emotionless words on a screen. The technology is wonderful, but the lack of actual connections between people should not be swept under the rug and avoided. Yes, collaborations across the world and communications open up and that is a wonderful thing. But, the fallout of real human experience is inevitable.

The unifying force of how we are all simply human is becoming harder to find because too many wires block the view of our counterparts on the other side of the instant message, text, phone call, or e-mail. So much is lost when face-to-face conversations are absent. The march of the technological age will not, and should not end. People just need to take the time to get their fingers off the keypad and lend their eyes to the beautiful world that surrounds them.

Technology is not the sole reason for the lack of unity and cohesiveness between people. To put it simply, everyone wants to be unique, and with everyone lusting after their individuality, they ever-so quickly forget that they can’t escape their humanity. No matter the amount the work put into becoming unique, there will always be someone similar.

Maybe not at this very moment, but one will come along. When people overly obsess with discovering themselves, there is a tendency for working together to suffer. People can’t properly assess obstacles in communicating as just a mere differences. Instead of viewing the obstacles as conquerable, they have been deemed too overwhelming, and the cause is lost. In no way is finding yourself a bad thing, but it has shifted its way there because people become blinded to the realities of everyone sharing universal human traits.

Critical thinking sets the table for a mind full of wonder and creativity. But with the excess of easily accessible answers at the simple search engine, critical thinking skills have slumped into the shadows. Technology has set the tone with Internet becoming the greatest information center. People are learning to rely on their quick answering searches rather than their hard-earned answers that coincide with legitimate learning. We shouldn’t neglect the availability of all the information online, but we actually have to teach people. Tell them how they can use their minds to help create a better tomorrow for all. We as a people have become immersed in the pleasure and leisure of easy access to knowledge that we are forgetting the importance of the development of the overwhelming knowledge and especially the importance of teaching how to use information that we have.

There is no limit to what we can create as a whole population. But there are obstacles. Unfortunately, you and I are those obstacles. And the only way to work through them is to work together instead of relying on the wonders that technology provides us with. There’s the vicious cycle. We need to break free of the obstacles that bind us from working together, but the only way to do that is to work together. Take the time to separate yourself from the technologies that bombard us daily and really attempt to connect with people. No matter how scary some people seem, there is a good side to all of us. Maybe our minds will spark together with excitement, and we can start to work towards things greater than we could ever imagine. The only dreams that will never come true are the ones that aren’t worked for.