In an era of Millennials, we have almost everything we can get our hands on in our daily lives. However, does it really matter if we forget to be ourselves while assimilating in a culture of opportunities and freedom?
I think so.
Society has been providing us for ways to survive since the Neanderthals. Human beings have used stones, partly sculpted rock, to just make fires. People tamed themselves to just adapt to the new trends. It's natural to survive with the other creatures among us.
An easier way to understand this would be to realize why you would stick with the herd. To put it this way, humans often need to feel that they "are part of the group." Sometimes, we listen to others and forget our own creative ways of thinking, mostly shadowed under other's approval.
Have you ever thought what would happen if everyone turns out to be a clone? Does everyone else's opinion really affect our own? If we interact as social animals, don't we just indirectly follow what others are doing?
Our mirror image would portray what others are thinking of us when we see ourselves.
We wouldn't really be ourselves, staring back at the mirror image of our own beauty. On this planet, many creatures follow what others do. Humans, in particular, are social animals, and according to psychology, comply with the standards of other fellow people. If you are a girl, you would love to blend in with the rest of the women who look like the same. Maybe, just maybe, the shirt you wore to class was matching your best friend's outfit.
Would that make you feel a bit awkward, or would you feel okay to follow a trend?
It's easy to lose ourselves while we are still part of a group. If you forget who you are and what you do in this era, where politics, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, and news reshape us to just stick to a certain norm, originality is destroyed. It is simply human nature to comply with the needs of important people. However, we hide our self under a façade and lose our pride.
Individuals find it hard to break the barrier that is already there.
It's hard because everything has been set out in place with fixed constitutions. In politics, Trump screams out the name of doom. Within a year into his presidency, people forgot to fight for their own rights once the needs of the country were put into more consideration. Being a part of a group sheds light on the field of politics. We rest in peace with destruction and fail by making our own disastrous choices, entirely dependent on the situation itself.
Business companies like Apple and Facebook flourish at the hands of their users. What would happen if there were no social media outlet? Where would we be? Technology rests in the hands of the advancing population. We follow the trends by using iPhones, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media apps just because of the popularity.
If there were no media apps, wouldn't it be easier to communicate with others? At least we wouldn't be confined to an app under a designated name.
What happens to people who grow up in a different culture than others? They lose their identities in the process. That culture chooses the kids and shape them to behave the way they do in their daily lives.
There is no escape. It's like we don't choose where we belong.
There always seem to be some riot going on in the 21st century. If people started marching right in your university to save the budget cuts to close the Rhetoric and Writing program, would it be wise to march against society? It would depend on the individual's personal interest. When people make that first approach to start shouting out their feelings and holding banners to make sure they get what they want, things become harder to fall into place.
We can't always follow what others want us to do. We march for our own being, not for others.
Have you ever seen individuals start their own lives out of scratch instead of what is given them to already? The answer is probably no. If it had to happen, part of our destinies would be created by us in parts: A, B, C, D, and so on. Everyone would be in charge of their own lives. There would most likely be no society. People might actually find it easier to figure out their own paths instead of sticking to some already set values.
A lesson to be learned.
Our culture has changed in many ways throughout the centuries. The 21st century is a great era of innovative change, but also an issue for those who conform.
Just food for thought: we must be true to ourselves.