When is the last time you sat outside and wrote down your thoughts using pen/pencil and paper? Or sat outside and just thought to yourself, about everything, or about nothing?
They (whoever "they" are) say that along with our senior research project, the Philosophy and Communication final paper will be one of the hardest assignments in the communication major. They're not wrong. Currently in the process of trying to formulate my thought and opinions on anything and everything to do with communication, I'm struggling.
There is a common fear of taking the course, COMM 352. The big question: Connable or Sery? That's a personal opinion. The bigger question: Is this class going to make me think in ways I've never thought before, consider communication as a broader spectrum than imaginable, and make me question the smallest norms in our society? Yes.
Although I'll be spending countless hours piecing together this 30-page paper -- most likely up until the last few hours before it's due -- the way that COMM 352 has made me think is something I am thankful for.
The most recent topics we have been discussing associate with how our world's fast pace has affected us as a generation, a population, and as the human race.
We like to blame media, advertising and cell phones for our constant stimulation.
Yes, they have impacted our society immensely in both good and bad ways, but they are not solely to blame for the shift in human behavior.
With constant pressure to "be the best" and "do better," every accomplishment we make, every goal we reach, is subconsciously belittled because it isn't "perfect."
The more you work, the more you get paid. The more schooling you go through, the better chance you have at landing a high-paying job. A high-paying job means a big house and lots of nice things. Today, that means success. The stress put on students today is not just physically draining, it is mentally demolishing.
We have to do everything in our ability to reach the top, or we'll just be wasting our lives away. Sounds like I'm exaggerating, right? If you gave a group of 18- to 25-year-olds a chance to stop what they're doing and think about their lives, in depth, without the distractions and persuasions from the outside world, I'm sure they would agree.
Wake up and smell the coffee. We've all heard that phrase before, but have we all done it?
It is OK to do nothing.
For some reason, "down time" is considered a waste of time. We have this underlying feeling that in college (while we are studying late nights in the library, going to classes throughout the week, participating in organizations on campus and working a part-time job) if we have a few hours to ourselves where we watch Netflix or sit out on the Great Lawn without being productive, that we are throwing away precious time.
This is sad because it is the complete opposite.
If you don't know yourself, your thoughts and feelings, and how you see the world, how do you plan to be successful in it? Having some self-reflection time is a necessity to life, and it is something that we are slowing losing grip of.
It doesn't make you lazy; it makes you aware of the world you live in instead of being caught up in it.
