Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Solitude and the Chaotic Life

Personally, I text message at least 75 times a day. This is a recent development in my life actually. When I first signed for my cell phone plan, I only had a plan for 300 text messages thinking that I would never go over that. And I didn't for a while. But as I began to make more friends and be more social, I found my bill becoming more expensive. The moment when I realized that my texting was becoming a bit outrageous was when I got the bill for $209, $140 of that being charges for going over my texting limit. I knew I had to make a choice. I chose to switch to an unlimited texting plan. To me, the extra $15 a month for the plan was a small price to pay for being able to stay connected to all my friends. In this clip from Family Guy, even in a crowded theater these friends need to communicate.

The End of Solitude is an article that describes how solitude is hard to come by currently. I agree. My life is very chaotic and I rarely have time to myself. This winter was probably the most hectic time in my life. Between school, work, coaching, and driving to and from all these different places, the last place I wanted to be was alone. When I did have time to be alone, I chose not to. I wanted to be with my friends having fun rather than sitting alone doing school work. If I feel like this, I'm sure many other students have this problem as well. Solitude is just not a priority in the lives of busy people. I do feel the toll that always being on the run and surrounded by people has had on me. My health, my spirituality, and my relationships are all affected. I'm sure I'm not the only one. With the declining number of people who are religious I'm sure that being to busy is a big factor in their decision as to whether they should go to church or watch TV with their friends and family.
Given the choice, after a long week of studying and working hard, would the students in the class rather sit alone by themselves or go have a good time with their friends?

1 comment:

  1. I just want to say I love this Family Guy scene but it also has a great message. I have seen texting growing more and more popular. i only know two people at Champlain who do not have texting capabilities on their cellphones and only one of them does not have it by choice. Many people text others do not however everyone that i know including my Dad will text. It is more convenient and you can do it while doing something else, more easily than you can make a cellphone call.

    Before coming to Champlain I was talking with some current students via my Facebook group. One of the best pieces of advice that I have used and seen in full is they said have a good texting plan because everyone texts. This I have seen and we have discussed in class to be more than true. We can also see this in the video clip of Peter and Quagmire as well.

    Matt

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