Growing up in a society gives you little sense of its true quality — good or bad, until you experience another. And if you are fortunate or not, you stay long enough to compare the two worlds. Much of the evil in one is replaced by much of some other evil in the other. "It's all relative" becomes the truth to every single aspect of your daily routine. If you are lucky, there might be some similarities.
Books are an amazing tool for time travel and learning. Films across genres allow you to dive into unknown parts of the world and people around us as well. Other than that, it is digital/ social content that is your entryway to current happenings.
When I am connected today to anything I want to be connected to, I find myself overwhelmed at times. I can pull up information online about anything I want- from the next object of desire to the harsh reality of life in a remote region of the planet. From celebrity update to an article on socio-cultural shifts in markets with weather and political conditions in turmoil. Sometimes, being eternally connected with my set of chosen friends and their social group can be exhaustive until I hit the "I don't care" icon in my head and switch paths. In this mishmash of opinion pieces, podcasts, updated blog posts, online groups, tweeted info graphics and buzzfed top 10 lists or youtube channels, I find myself losing control of my own thoughts sometimes.
Finally, that which is true is what I inhale, touch and see.
But this is me, an adult, a parent, an educator.
As an adult, I can drive myself around, über myself anywhere and pretty much consume whatever media I want if I don't want to travel physically. This is something that can be taken for granted by those in my category very easily. We assume life is what we choose outside of the surprise alternator repair on your dependable car or the termite damage from the past recently discovered at the foundation of your home. We get surprised but we are equipped to handle them in any way we choose.
It is a different story for young adults. The ones that cannot yet drive. Or those that stay in the control of parents/ caretakers most waking hours. This world must be a different experience altogether for them. If everyday life is insulated and restricted to the limited circles such as school/ neighborhood friends/ extra curricular activity friends - their only connection to anything else in the world is mostly digital. If you aren't accustomed to dealing with unexpected people or situations, how do you figure life out? How do you feel in control? If stranger anxiety is developed to be very very prominent (which is unfortunately necessary to an extent) they aren’t given an opportunity to figure out the creepy from the normal. If there is no safe avenue to make mistakes, how do they develop their own personal personality radars? Much of their environment isn’t in their control.
When most things around you aren’t a construct of your imagination, you begin to feel the need to control something–anything.
So then you do what it takes to control the things that you can. Does food become one of those? Do your personal hygiene and decoration be one of those? Would your relationships be one of those elements that you can control? If much time is spent insulated, does it make a young adult more self-focused?
A window that allows them to look at people their age in their everyday would help open their eyes to the differences in their world and the one outside the window. One that would allow them a different perspective and possibly an appreciation of what they do have or an inspiration to acquire what they don't.
