The Quad

Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: Op-Ed

I find that as an art major, I tend to have a rather different perspective than most people. Take this example: I was hanging out with some friends in the park one day over the summer and it was a beautiful day- sun shining, not too humid, and not a cloud in the sky. I made the comment that I didn't like pure blue skies and one of my friends asked me, "What do you mean? Are you a pessimist or something?" I went on to explain that the pure-blue-no-clouds-to-be-seen sky was just boring. There was no variety, no interest; just a large ceiling of blue. This made, and still makes, perfect sense to me; but my friends still think I'm a pessimist.

I want to back away from the clouds and the sky to come back down to Earth for a moment if you will.People don't seem open to the world anymore these days. I tend to see the majority of people either talking on their phone, texting, listening to music or a combination of the above as they make their daily Mecca to and from classes. This demeanor creates an imaginary wall around the individual and prevents outside interaction from occurring. Now I understand that it isn't exactly necessary to become a social butterfly as you wander the campus from class to class, but the mentality can be extended to dorm living as well.

As I walk down the hallways of my dorm to do laundry or brush my teeth, I will see that a vast majority, if not all of the doors, are closed. This is a direct parallel to the music/phone point I made earlier. Now I understand how people like their privacy or are doing work and don't want to be bothered, but I swear I hear more people saying "but I just don't know anybody" more often than I can count. I used to leave my door open when I moved onto campus last year and people would stick their head in and go "Oh hey, my name is so and so. It is nice to meet you!" A fair amount of these people became my good friends and I still hang out or talk to them regularly.

The point I'm trying to make is, people have erected such strong barriers around themselves these days that it becomes harder and harder to freely interact with others. Ask yourself, when was the last time you ever went out to meet new people? Now ask yourself if someone you know knew who you were going to hang out with? Are you having difficulty?

As a society we have become so reliant on others to initiate new interaction and relationships that I often wonder if we are even self reliant anymore.

Kyle Bishop is a student at West Chester University. He can be reached at KB667205@wcupa.edu

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