In our modern culture, it seems that things like money, Twitter followers, and having the latest gadgets are the only things that matter. Sure, you can spend time talking to your family, but why do that when you can stare at a screen, tagging people in memes that seem hilarious one moment, yet forgettable in the next?

It is not appropriate to express emotion (unless it is on a Facebook rant of course). Because, when the rubber hits the road, emotions are unstable and frightening. Seeing the entirety of a person's life experience displayed through the filter of half a dozen media platforms puts more distance between the lives of individuals and genuine experience. We have learned to take immensely complex persons, dissect them, and display information about their likes and dislikes as if their thoughts were trophies to be hunted. Possibly, the most sadistic part of this practice is that in our standards of interaction, we encourage people to pour their being into these virtual worlds, and in doing so, we are growing in a world of splintered, sanitized people who have been raised to express themselves through shallow platforms.

Yes, previous generations had their own vices and antisocial tendencies, but in this century, we as a species have made such monumental leaps in the dispersion of information, so that everyone is virtually screaming their life stories into a vast, uncaring void. From experience, I know that it is exhausting, fruitless, and unfulfilling.

So, if social media platforms and material gain is a bad way of expression, what are people supposed to do? Well, humans have had long standing traditions of expressions known as the humanities. Writing, music, art, and philosphy, these have always stood as a way to express the turmoil and jubilation that is the human experience. However, in this age, we have been presented with the cheap alternative to these in the form of social media.

What has happened is that the humanities have, in recent years, been seen as "unprofessional" meaning, less profitable than business and tech industries. Of course, these fields rarely make as much money as business or (in some cases) new technology, but they are still sustainable. What has been ingrained in us during the past few decades is that success equals money, and that spending time on human expression is unprofitable. This is an old message, but in this century, we have reached a place where people have the quick and easy way to express oneself, but social platforms have shortcomings. Entire classes can be taught about specific works of art, and the various interpretations of it; the same can be said for works of literature. Why? Because what we see in those expressions of humanity is the result of authentic human experience. In the still image of a painting, we can stare into an eternity of human possibility that can grip the heart and take one on a journey of reflection, teaching a person new things about themselves. Our current social values have attempted to replace such abstract beauty with poop emojis.

As our values become less human-centric, I can only wonder at what this means for us all as people. If our equivalent of humanity has become simple and one dimensional, does that mean that our species is losing some parts of what makes it human?