I am not inexperienced when it comes to the feeling of being panicked. But, rarely am I ever in a situation where I or another human being is in real danger. The panic I feel is situational, fabricated by my mind, my subconscious. But my fears are very real and my tendency to worry can be paralyzing.
I was born into a world dominated by institutional and governmental hierarchies, a world in which discrimination and hate run rampant. I was born into a world in which fossil fuels are burned and exotic animals are hunted and trees are felled down to provide for urbanization and the 7+ billion other people who likewise call Earth, home.
I lay awake at night worrying about “normal” things—my upcoming exams, my post-graduate plans, my aging grandparents. But these thoughts, though more immediate, aren’t as loud as my worries about the planet. My everyday concerns are drowned, pushed further into the depths of my mind, out of view, by angry thoughts and undue panic about future rising sea levels, wars waged over potable water, increasingly severe natural disasters, poverty, death.
“Am I the only one?” I think, the only one that wakes up in a cold sweat with the image of flooded streets and emaciated polar bears singing on the backs of my eyelids? I’m frustrated with society and adamant that I’m not alone in my quest for vast cultural and societal change. So, I asked people from my generation: What frustrates you most about modern society. Here are a few of their responses:
What frustrates you most about modern society?
It's difficult to choose just one thing; mostly the senseless way we deal with any problem as a society, from women's healthcare to gun control laws. The government doesn't listen to what the overwhelming majority of people want. Nobody cares about fixing things. The wheel keeps spinning in the same rut--and it will never free itself.
The inability to have empathy beyond borders
It feels like it's falling apart and also that people don't value simple one-on-one time with each other anymore because of screens
I'm frustrated by people finding their identities in things they cannot control (such as skin color, sexual orientation, etc.); it just opens up opportunities for people to get offended by anything and everything. These characteristics are facets of human life, so I wish people would stop acting like the only one’s who care about them are the people with the same personal identifier.
People refusing to make wise decisions despite clear evidence, such as stricter gun laws, saving the environment, etc.
People’s belief that if something is good for them, it’s automatically the right thing to do. An ideal society is one in which every individual works for both the betterment of themselves as well as society, for otherwise we experience the fullfilment of the tragedy of the commons, where individuals succeed over the whole at the expense of shared resources.
The way progress is undone by those who fear it
It frustrates me so much that people just don't discuss anymore. Especially in the realm of politics where there should definitely be some constructive discourse, we just have people bickering and insulting one another, calling each other names. I wish I could sit down with someone with a different opinion than my own and just talk about why they think the way they do; that's fascinating to me. Can't we all just be friends?
The way we treat each other and the way the older generations look so harshly down on millennials, even though they are the ones that raised us.
Social media/mass media makes us feel inadequate in our physical and emotional selves.
Nobody knows how to communicate without 21st century technology/recent forms of communication (i.e. Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook).
Donald Trump, old people unwilling to change, the absence of Obama, how expensive college is, terrorism.
Refusal of older generations to acknowledge climate change and make the necessary improvements to protect our planet.
In the United States we seen to be moving backwards. Minority groups are constantly being persecuted: white supremacists marching, the recent ban of abortions after 20 weeks and restrictions on birth control. In general, I feel like our society and national community has taken a giant step back.
The fact that constructive conversation seems impossible. Everyone-both sides of every social or political issue, both sides of the aisle, gets emotional with every issue. Every debate instantly breaks down into emotional appeals and issues of entitlement, and the divide between people only gets worse.
The most prominent frustration, though, appearing in some way in each person’s response, is a lack of empathy—for one another, for different cultures, different countries, for anyone who doesn’t belong in our “group.” So often, we are focused on our own future, our own happiness and our individual goals. Look outward. Put your phone down. Make conversation. Give back.
