Commentary: People today are lacking a substantial sense of depth

Conversations are no longer palpable

  Deep human connection is wildly depressing to search for in today’s society. It’s not a stretch to say people have become shallow, and it’s excruciating for those remaining to long for a depth that is non-existent.

  Mental and physical contact with others can give you an outlet for your feelings, calm your mind, relieve stress, fix your whole life.

  As technology eats away at our brains, it addicts us to the numbness of a superficial society. There is only one layer of perfection there, giving us no reason to want to dig any deeper into our emotions or anyone else’s. Expectations, intentions, empathy and motivation have all been altered.

  Creativity has been lost. I find hints of it within passionate song lyrics, uncontained laughter, or the reflective eyes of classmates that seem to speak a language entirely of their own. I follow the clues but I can never get to the root.

  The problem is – no one talks anymore. What happened to intimate eye contact when chatting, sweet hellos and exchanging words with strangers in public, and speaking out what you think about the world?

  It has come to a point where deep conversations now only reside in my imagination. My patience to truly connect with another person has finally worn too thin. I’ve simply stopped trying.

  Don’t get me wrong, I think people are extremely precious. I could watch them for hours trying to figure them out, wishing I knew them, what they are thinking and how their life has been. My friends bring so much joy to my life, but I can still feel an absence practically burning a hole through my chest.

  It’s those late-night conversations I don’t experience often enough that I’m missing. The ones where you lie on the grass looking up at the stars and talking effortlessly for hours with the person next to you about your fears, experiences, hopes, past, present, future and everything in between. Those are the moments that mean everything to me.

  My realization that some individuals just can’t think in the same depth the way others can has changed me for the worse. I’ve developed an exaggerated and relaxed attitude that insures I don’t turn insane from lack of companionship. I just tell myself not to care about anything, that I’ll deal with it later, that it doesn’t matter and it’s fine. I swear I wasn’t always this way, but now it’s just who I am … and I hate it.

  The closest thing to a connection I’ve had in a while wasn’t with a physical person, it was with music. That saddens me to admit because it shouldn’t be that way. I blast my music so loud to drown out people around me that I can still hear haunting lyrics bounce around my head when I try to fall asleep at night.

  Sleeping is more difficult when you feel disconnected from everyone, which then severs the bond of understanding that you once had with yourself. Some nights, my body physically aches because I feel I will be forever trapped inside it. I could have all the space in the world but still feel claustrophobic in my own skin.

  I have desires, secrets, loneliness that needs to be released in order to move on. Maybe it’s selfish to want to unload my feelings onto someone else, but they need to be set free.

 I have desires, secrets, loneliness that needs to be released in order to move on. Maybe it’s selfish to want to unload my feelings onto someone else, but they need to be set free.

  Everyone, no matter their thinking level, deserves a chance to pass on their thoughts, experiences, and beliefs. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks so much about deeper levels and recognizes when moments need to be created or savored.

  We must find such valuable moments and hold on to them, or else I fear in the future we will all become one dimensional. We need to open our eyes to the fog that surrounds our heads –  it’s suffocating us.

  So connect with people on those deeper levels because, while there are always risks, there is nothing else like it in the world. We need it.