The species of Homo sapien sapiens arrived on Earth two-hundred-thousand years ago. This species is what is called the “Modern Human.” The ability to “speak” is an aspect that is fascinating, seeing as humans are the only organism that has this ability. Some microorganisms have vocal cords and hold a conversation in their way, as well. However, it is believed that they are not able to communicate at such a level as humans. One can argue that animals communicate better than humans, and this could also be considered valid. Why is it that animals grunt and trill and humans have complex structures for language and still leave meaning subjective? Even so, animals communicate primarily for survival, which renders their means of communication useful. However, humans do not always speak for survival. In more modern periods, they speak to talk because although the danger is imminent, it is not something to be readily wary of. The dictionary describes the conversation as the informal exchange of ideas by spoken words. However, in more modern times, merely exchanging ideas has taken a backseat. It instead replaced by its aggressive cousin named “opinion.” The definition of conversation could be modified to relaying ideas, forcing opinions and avoiding boredom in current society.
Relaying and sharing maintain two entirely different meanings, one means to receive and pass on and the other means to tell someone about. Social media allows for billions to relay information daily. The process might have begun with one sharing information but quickly turns into thousands of communicating the same information. Communicating is done in the form of retweeting or reposting or even regurgitating what was heard. The amount of content that modern society can view at once causes relaying information to be done absentmindedly, and often , nothing learned is retained. Take mass shootings, for example; the U.S. holds thirty-one percent of the mass shooters in the world, although the country alone takes up five percent of the world’s population. These shootings happen often. Therefore, many are seen retweeting condolences and reposting information about the shooting in hordes continuously. After the turmoil, each post and tweet gains hundreds of thousands of eyes and continually builds on top of each other. In another corner, fights and opposition are blaring the tired quote of “People kill people, not guns.” This is heard for three days maximum until the deafening silence is reached and a new distraction is underway. Now, what just happened? Everyone shared and shared until they reached the conclusion of nothing. Some stayed and fought, and others forgot the issue at hand, but nothing was loud enough for a significant change in the law. Therefore, they all moved along with life until the next shooting, all with the same disbelief and stagnant behavior.
To reiterate, social media is a platform where you can easily view how a majority of people in society react and communicate. On many of these apps and sites, many will refuse to compromise even on small topics, like pineapple on pizza. In this day and age, there is no longer the push of opinion solely from organizations, but also a push of opinion or agenda from almost every average person in society. Many are very polarized on situations and have a hard time attempting to hear the other side out. One issue that is very polarizing in this day and age is abortion. One will probably see a new article or several feuds over the topic daily. The opinions come from men and women alike, some are pro-life, and some are pro-abortion. However, very few can meet in the middle, and some believe that they should be able to speak out on the bodies of women and their struggles without even attempting to learn the facts. The aggressive nature of opinion in this day and age has become very stark and continues to drive the humans of this society further away from each other. Whenever one believes that the world is moving forward, there is always a case, law, or war that sets the world years or decades behind. Now that people have more abilities to speak out, they use that ability in the wrong way. The conversation has now become diluted to an amalgam of polarized opinions and bias and is no longer a vibrant and lively experience. However, when it is an exciting experience, there is always someone there to condense the length of the event.
Among anything else, it can be believed that we all have too much of a useful resource, which is technology. Hence many of our conversations and media being boiled down to buzzwords to avoid boredom or gain attention. People in centuries before, had conversations of purpose as animals do. This is reflected in the writings that have been left for us to explore. One could believe that this is due to the less complicated life they held or the many wars and battles they had to endure. People wrote to check on each other, warn of danger and would wake up daily to tend to a simple routine. Even then, when there was boredom, the people would create games and songs. Now, the average person has to engage in complicated multitasking and primarily communicates virtually. Boredom arises quickly due to those mentioned above “too much of a good resource,” and we no longer have conversations of purpose due to the overwhelming nature of multitasking. The way that modern society is propagandized makes it seem as if the inventions of the future are too few, expensive, or unnecessary. It is almost as if we are in the end stages. The show “Black Mirror” emphasizes the dilemma caused by the inventions of the near future. In each episode, there is an immense downfall caused by technology, and this is also an issue that we unknowingly face. Creating games and songs out of boredom become more difficult because it seems that everything has been created. Also, if the technology is overdone, our demise is imminent. To put it, it appears that there is barely anything to do that does not quickly get annoying. Naturally, the repetitive nature of scrolling on cell-phones is addictive to humans, but it also hinders many from having fun. Regardless, it should be mentioned that it is not typical in most social settings to engage in creating songs, games, or fun. Many of these bland modern conversations could be the result of aggravation from overworking and lack of opportunity for excitement.
The conversation is a mere distraction from what has become our reality. The more technologically advanced society becomes, the less enjoyable and creative one becomes when placed around most people. Even at parties, you will see many on their phones or staging their faux happiness. Even then, most of us using cell-phones are communicating with other people, although they are not around. Luckily, the conversation is still psychologically enjoyable to man, because it is always done. Some talk more than others because discussion was positively reinforced when they were growing up or simply because they are extroverted. However, we must face the fact that the means of conversation has strayed far from what we all believe and want it to be. A world that was once simple, transformed into one that is so complex that conversation is reduced to overlay to avoid or address the problems that the modern world provides.