Playing Off Awkward Moments

The bottom line is, most of us are going to have an awkward moment or two in our lives. If you're me, you have an awkward moment or two every time you socialize with someone. We're all just people desperately trying to find out what the other person on the end of a group photo is doing with their arm. Lucky for you, I have encountered enough awkward moments to suffice for everyone, and I am here to give you my best insight as to how to play these off in the most subtle way possible.

Situation: You're belting out a song with a group of people and suddenly the music stops on a super high note. You're the only person who keeps singing.

Solution: You have to pretend you knew it was stopping but you could not scrounge up an F to give. It's embarrassing, yes, and the music never stops on a quiet, easy-to-nail note. No. It's the "I" in I Will Always Love You. It's the "we could have had it all" in Rolling in the Deep. But you, my friend, cannot let this take away from the volume you plan to belt it out with. You cannot fear. You must use all the force within you and continue singing as if you knew it was going to happen and you just don't care. There's no shame in your game, girl. No shame. 

Situation: You're taking a picture with someone and you go to put your arm around them and they don't return the favor. 

Solution: Honestly, what are you in, 6th grade? Unless you have a pre-planned pose for this picture or a mutual decision as to where your arms are going to go, THEY SHOULD GO AROUND EACH OTHER. This shouldn't be a problem, alas, it is. What do you do? Pretend they have a piece of hair or something of that nature on their shirt. Do not, under any circumstances, pull back. You grab that nonexistent piece of fuzz off of their shirt with CONFIDENCE, and then prepare for the picture in another manner. That's all you can do. Pulling back is awkward for you, but nothing, NOTHING will be more awkward than the picture with their arms at their sides while you reach around their neck. 

Situation: Someone is waving in your general direction and you wave back. They weren't waving at you.

Solution: Two can play this game. Pretend you're waving at someone behind THEM. Look past them, make sure they are able to tell that you aren't waving at them. Ha. That would be stupid. Just wave like there's no tomorrow. Someone will inevitably think you are waving at them, and just latch on. Hold that wave like Rose held onto the floating door. If there's no one behind them? You're swatting a fly. You aren't waving. You're swatting a fly.

Situation: Pronouncing something incorrectly. 

Solution: You have to devote yourself to this one, but you have to make them wholeheartedly believe that they are wrong. This is coming from a person who, until 2 months ago, thought it was "all intensive purposes". You OWN that mispronounced phrase. Tell them your cousin is an English major and her professor told her the correct way to say it. Make THEM feel like an idiot. Screw saying "oh haha oops" when you mess something up. Make the person who called you out feel like their presence in this WORLD is messing something up. 

Situation: You are at the very beginning of the story and you realize it's not going to be very funny.

Solution: You forgot what you were going to say. You remembered that your friend doesn't want anyone to know about it. It's featuring someone within earshot. Just get out of it using whatever route is necessary. 

Situation: Telling a story that you realize isn't funny at all once you reach the end.

Solution: Fabricate it. Channel your inner Steven Glass and just make the rest of it up. You are balls deep into this story. You are past the point of no return. You have to go big or go home. You can't be known as the person who spends 5 minutes telling a story that people can't even fake smiling at. Make someone die or get arrested. Have a naked man run through chanting battle songs. I don't know. Whatever you see fit. But until you get the response you were aiming for, do not stop. 

Situation: Someone is holding a door for you but you're too far away to get there quickly at a walking pace but you don't want to jog/You are holding a door and realize the person is too far away to get there quickly at a walking pace/they don't want to jog

Solution: The solution should be to establish a zone where holding the door is acceptable. In front of every door is a certain color on the ground and if someone is within that area, the door can be held. If not, close the door and MOVE ON. That said, until that happens, we're gonna have to continue playing it off. If you're the one entering the door, the awkward moment is on THEM. You look down. Check your phone. Look around for something. Do not let them know that you know they're holding the door. That way you don't feel the need to up your speed to a light jog and they don't feel like they've just ruined your week. If you're the person holding the door, look preoccupied. Don't stare them down. Become the designated door holder. Make them believe that you aren't holding the door for them, YOU ARE HOLDING THE DOOR FOR EVERYONE. (This requires what could be a day's worth of dedication, because you must 1- continue holding until they can't see you anymore and 2- stay out of their way for however long is necessary because as the door holder, you wouldn't be walking around later. Dodge that person with everything you have)

Situation: A server says "have a nice meal." A ticket ripper says "enjoy your movie". You say "you too!"

Solution: There is two options you could go for here, the former probably being the one you should go for but hey. The first option is to laugh it off. It probably happens all the time. It'll be an obligatory laugh from both parties but it will be over. The second is to praise The Lord for homonyms. Quickly, you must turn your "too" into "two" and find two people close to you. Then say "you two... look so nice!" Then casually smile at the employee and say thank you. (Although, the first is really the one to go for. If you were cool enough to pull the second one off, you probably wouldn't have told your waiter to enjoy his food)

Situation: You hug someone goodbye and then you both end up walking the same way.

Solution: As SOON as you realize you've stepped in the same direction, turn around and go the other way, hopefully before the other person notices. The world is round. You will get to your car eventually.

Situation: You're internet stalking your new love interest. You just liked his picture from middle school that he forgot he even posted.

Solution: Another twofold. You can literally go big or go home. You can play it off as if you never did it and hopefully he'll bring it up as a joke on your 12th date. Or you can like the rest of his pictures. All of them. Then promptly give

yourself a pep talk telling yourself to get over him because now the relationship is a lost cause. 

Situation: Going for a high five that doesn't get recepted.

Solution: There's very, very few things more awkward than this one. Kristen Stewart hardly even rivals it. You're holding your hand out but no one has noticed. You can't be like "hey hey" and get their attention because that makes a repugnant situation 10x worse. Start squinting your eyes and staring at your hand as if something is on it. You aren't anticipating a high five, you're administering a 5-star self hand evaluation. Then if someone finally notices you, they'll high five back. But you're just looking at your hand. Awkward for them! You've just turned the tables.

Situation: Asking what looks like an employee for something and surprise! They're not an employee.

Solution: Lie. Make it convincing. "Oh, I know! You just look like you shop here a lot, and I figured you would know!" Or "the customer service is so bad here so I figured the shoppers gotta stick together!" Whatever. If you ask them to get something from the back? Walk away silently and never enter the store again. 

Situation: Stepping to the left to get out of someone's way, but they step the same way to get out of your way.

Solution: Break into a impromptu hip hop dance. Honestly, no one will feel more uncomfortable than them, and the aim is to make YOU feel less awkward. Put the discomfort on someone else. That's the name of the game, friends. 

An Open Letter to Yourself

  You always get screwed over. You're nice and you let people take advantage of that. You give out second and third chances because you believe people can change, even when they repeatedly prove to you that they don't. You expect everyone to look at life and love the same way you do, and you expect people to do things you would do for them. Your standards aren't even incredibly high but you always pick people who barely reach them. You promise yourself you won't get attached and you inevitably do, and then you get hurt. But you won't lose your trust.

   You get knocked down, a lot. You're chosen as a second option, or completely left behind. Not for any reason other than someone else is better. It's not that you are a bad person, but someone's got you beat. They're prettier, they're funnier, they're better. You try and try but for some reason, you just can't win. But you won't lose your ability to try again.

    "You're not pretty enough," you tell yourself. "You just aren't worthy of them." You start to bring yourself down in order to justify, when in reality, they're not worthy of you. But right when it happens, you can't tell yourself that. You're stuck in a pit of self pity. You don't think you're good enough. But you are. And you won't lose your sense of self worth.

    The bottom line is that you can't be everyone's cup of tea. You can't be the perfect girl you so desire to be for every boy you meet. Putting yourself out there means getting hurt, but it also means getting stronger. You have decided you're not going to be one of those girls who can't be with someone because someone else took away her trust in the male population. Anyone who isn't able to see all of the beauty within you doesn't deserve to jeopardize any future relationships with someone who will. So keep trusting. Keep trying. And keep being the person you are, because one day, it will be the person someone is looking for.

    One day, someone will remind you that you're good enough. They will remind you that you're wonderful. They will remind you that you are worthy of love. Keep going. One day, someone is going to love you for every quirk you have. They will accept you for every flaw. They will want to explore every nook and cranny of your mind and desire to fall in love with you more and more each day. But before that can happen, you have to do those things for yourself. You must know you are good enough. You must know how wonderful you are. You must know that you are worthy to love and to be loved. You have to love the quirks you have, and accept your flaws. You have to explore your mind, and love yourself for what you find there. You can't expect someone else to love you if you can't even love yourself. And there's no reason not to.

   I know someone may have told you differently, but you are incredible. I know someone may have tried to hold you back, but you will be successful. I know it seems hopeless now, but you will be happy. I know it may seem impossible, but you will love the person you will become. I know that the relationships you have endured have shown differently, but you will find someone. And I know it doesn't seem like it now, but you will be okay.

You Are Better Than Me: A Walk Through My Middle School Years

Before I start, I would like to extend my deepest apologies to anyone I embarrass in the making of this post. 

Okay, the bottom line is that middle schoolers these days are -- God forbid -- normal. They dress like regular people, talk like regular people and ARE regular people. So, the purpose of this post is threefold. 

1) I want people to know that this is what middle schoolers used to be.

2) I'm notorious for accidentally offending people. So next time I say you're ugly, look at this and consider the source. I say your selfie is bad? Look no further. You get the point. You're probably better than me.

3) I want someone else to laugh at me, because laughing alone at these in my room isn't cutting it.

Without further aideau, here are the top shots I selected off of my Photobucket account to prove that you are better than me. 

A lot of questions go along with this. Who took it is the first one. Who let this photo be taken? I mean, I had to trust them if they were in my house, but they let this happen? Second, why is my shirt green? That doesn't match. Third, was my name really necessary in the bottom corner? Anyway, this may look bad but this is only just the beginning.

One thing I was notorious for in middle school was not actually getting myself in the picture. You can see me sassily holding the back end of my ponytail, but the focus is really on the other subject. Also, take a look at the one beady eye I allowed in the shot. Contrasts nicely with my ghost white face from my cell phone flash. 

So you're telling me that gay people can't get married, but I was allowed to take this and post it? 

I don't know where the inspiration came from for this shot, but you would have to assume hell. I'm not even going to ADDRESS the over saturation, but that same face makes an appearance in every single picture. The only thing I changed was the letter and camera angle. I really loved this, too.

Why show emotion? Pictures aren't for smiling! But God forbid a peace sign isn't thrown up! And for the love of God, that mirror was the size of the wall but for some reason I'm half hidden and just peeping myself into the shot. I probably just came up out of nowhere and snapped the picture. 

The peace sign strikes again! Multiple concerns with this picture. One, we are at school why is our hair like that? Why did I go to school with that rats best on top of my head? What is that facial expression? Why didn't everyone think I was a lesbian? Did everyone think I was a lesbian? Honestly, this shot epitomizes middle school for me. 

One of my personal favorites. The main focus of the picture is the trash can. I used a very, very unimportant twilight quote that had NOTHING to do with the picture, and then I cited it (duh) at the bottom with a little smiley face. My main concern: Why am I holding a bottle of nail polish?

Just a few things you should know: I wasn't talking to anyone, the phone didn't even work for that matter, and I spent a very long time trying for the best hairdo, which I eventually decided on the high side ponytail. Wouldn't want my hair getting in the way of my important phone call on a non-working phone!!

I don't play guitar. There's the broken phone again! Where am I looking? Why is my guitar laying flat? You're not fooling anyone. Cool socks, though. 

This is a favorite for a lot of reasons. One: literally 1/100th of my room is in this shot and I couldn't take the pair of pajama pants out of it. Two: you know this happened directly after I nailed my guitar shot. Three: what am I thinking? Probably something along the lines of "this is what it feels like to have no friends". All in all a really dramatic piece. 

Love lockdown? Why is lockdown typed and LOVE written out in actual handwriting? Whose glasses are those? Why am I making that face? I didn't even listen to the song Love Lockdown? 

This might be my actual favorite. The facial expression, the eyeliner falling off of my face, the tank top just peaking out below my shirt and the spandex pulled just a little too long. The shrug, the suave "I'm better than you" look I'm giving off by my stance. It has all a photo needs. It's brilliant. It's art.

If you'd like to text me, I can send you 9 more pictures that look almost identical to this, but I'm not going to put them all here. Bottom line is we went to a Bloom Carroll basketball game (not a foreign concept, I've been going since I was a fetus and Leah has probably been to about 20), and we took a picture of everything we did, carefully including at least one pair of crazy socks in each one. God forbid the 3 people who liked us didn't know we were wearing crazy socks. 

Why? 

Earlier, in the bathing suit picture, I mentioned I may have just snuck up on her and snapped a shot? Well, I actually did that for these ones. Who are these people? I vaguely know who they are now, but I can say with complete certainty I hadn't talked to 3/4 of them when I snapped these pictures. I'm pretty sure they're all 2 years behind me, if anyone wants an idea of my social standings.

Who is this kid? More importantly, why is my hand up his shirt? I think it's actually my cousin.. But why is my hand up his shirt?

What was I writing? The world may never know. Was I wearing a shirt? Probably, but it's inconclusive. Where am I? The floor of my office, thanks for asking. Are you better than me? Yes.

So here we are. Let's get to business. The first thing to point out is that that is a dress. Yep. But why wear it for it's intended purpose? Psh, that seems silly. I know! I'll throw some spandex on and my skater vans and it will look great! Brilliant! But my hair looks ba--- oh well. Trust me, your cool outfit and rocking body will steak the spotlight.

Unrelated: the email account I made my Photobucket account off of was "edwardcullen.twilight22@gmail.com"

I am going to give props to myself for doing my hair and makeup for this pic, as it's been made clear that that wasn't exactly a priority of mine. The best part about this shot is the text. Not only it's weird placement, but the word itself. "Irrevocable". Unchangable. Unable to be altered. A nice thought, but I will have you know that a) I didn't know what the word meant, but it was used in Twilight so throw it on there! And b) it was probably in my best interest to be changed 

The final picture takes the cake for best everything. The angle? Classic. The nonchalant hand? Perfectly placed. The chucks RIGHT on the air vent's edge? Beautiful. The emphasis on my uncaring, "idgaf" facial expression? Priceless. But what sets it apart from the rest is the text. I'm nothing special, I say. Just another girl named Sara. Capitalization of every word because everything is equally important. Almost a tear inducing shot. A thing of beauty. •

The Boy You're Looking For Isn't Real

    I've noticed a trend on social networking over the past couple of months that is solely based on dream men for young women. The popular hashtags "#ifwedate", "#dearfutureboyfriend" and other of its kind are being hashtagged to the point where I would consider it an epidemic and what it is doing more than alerting your future significant other of your wishes is destroying the chances of you ever being totally happy with the guy you're with.
    Your expectations are substantially too high. You are retweeting and obsessing over the pictures and stories of cute things that a guy has done for his girl, and letting any guy you date in the future know that those types of things are what you are looking for from him. Here's the problem, ladies. You are basing the quality of the guy you're with based on one quality from about 50 different guys. You see a photo of a guy who had his proposal video taped, and you want that. You read a story about a guy who cried when his woman came down the aisle, and you want that. You see photos of multiple different guys doing cute and spontaneous different things for multiple different girls but they expect your ONE guy to do every single one of those things for you. It isn't wrong for you to want your boyfriend to surprise you with flowers sometimes, but it is wrong to want him to bring you flowers every day, send you a cute text every morning, tell every single person he knows how wonderful you are, #wcw you every Wednesday, take you out to dinner every weekend, write you songs, dance with you in the rain and all of the other cheesy things that girls tend to believe merit the value of the relationship. You are setting your standards too high and in the end, it will lead to disappointment.
    These accounts that dedicate themselves to showing you the "perfect boy" are, in a way, like the airbrushed pictures of women that are edited and altered to "perfection". A guy looks at the picture and wants a woman as beautiful and sexy as she is, although beauty like hers is unattainable because it is fabricated. THE PERFECT BOY IS FABRICATED, TOO! A man with every single trait that girls so desperately want is completely unattainable. This is why you are friend-zoning perfect guys. It's not because you're nice, boys, it's because you're not able to become a guy that has been labeled as "perfect" by twitter accounts and romantic comedies. You can be the nicest, best looking, sweetest guy there is but if you don't send an "I know you're asleep, but..." text and record your proposal and play it at your wedding, you aren't good enough.
     Ladies, let him woo you in his own way. Stop creating a fake, impossible version of your "perfect guy" based on the thousands of nice things other guys have done for other girls. Let him show you that he doesn't have to be created out of cliches in order to be a great guy. Because right now, because of the copious amount of standards you're setting potential suitors to, you're not going to find one that meets the standards, and you're going to end up disappointed. I'm not saying set your standards low, but I'm saying don't set them so high that they're impossible to reach. I promise you, if you repeatedly get mad at your man for not being the "perfect" man you had in mind, or constantly ask him to do the things you see on the internet, it isn't going to last. Spontaneity shouldn't be scripted. He shouldn't surprise you with flowers because you told him to. If he surprises you, it should be because he wants to.
    What these standards and lists of things "perfect boyfriends would do" are doing is not letting women appreciate a guy for just  being a guy. If your boyfriend isn't nice to you, never lets him know how he feels and never does anything sweet for you, get rid of him. That should be below your standards. But you shouldn't get rid of him because he didn't write you 365 letters like Noah did, or send you an incredibly cheesy text message to wake up EVERY MORNING like someone else's boyfriend did. You can't base what you want off of what you've seen other people have, you need to let YOUR relationship be YOUR relationship and YOUR boyfriend's qualities be YOUR boyfriend's qualities, not the qualities of other people's boyfriends that you found on the internet. If you expect him to surprise you every single day, you won't actually be surprised when he does. Don't expect him to do anything except for be sweet, gentle and kind to you so when he actually does something worthy of tweeting or telling your friends about, you're actually genuinely surprised.
     What you need to do is realize that no relationship and no man is ever going to be flawless. Hashtagging and retweeting things you want isn't going to make that happen. Once you realize that and bring your expectations down a couple of notches, you will be pleasantly surprised. If your expectations are on the highest level they can go, there is no way for a man to go above and beyond. Bring it down, and give him room to go above and beyond for you. I can guarantee once your impossible standards are brought down, your overall happiness in your relationship or future relationships will go up.

In Defense of Waiting

    I would like to preface this by saying that I have absolutely no qualifications to tell you what to or what not to do, nor am I trying to sway you to believe and do what I believe and do. If you agree with the things I say, cool we aren't alone. If you disagree, maybe it can be a little bit of insight into other people's logic in a non judgmental way. If you're not sure where you stand, here's one side for you to look at. Without further adieu, here's my beliefs and opinions on waiting for sex. 

    What you have to understand about me is I think very highly of myself. Not so much in an extremely conceited way, but I think I have a lot to offer. I'm intelligent, funny and I like to believe I'm a fun person to be around. I like those things about myself and I like when other people like those things about me. However, it's hard for people to notice things beyond your body and sexuality if that's the only thing you're putting out there for people to notice. If you asked a guy up front if he would rather listen to you talk about things you're informed about or tell funny jokes/things that have happened in your life or have sex with you, he will probably chose the latter. The way around this is to not give him the second option. One of two things will happen: he will leave you, or he will begin to appreciate the things about you that don't have to do with your sexual availability. If you really think about it, how upset would you be if option one happened and he left? Really ponder that one. If a guy's only reason for leaving is because you're not having sex with him, do you actually want to spend your life with him? Ladies, the answer better be no. You are made up of SO many beautiful things, and if he's not willing to explore the beauty that is you because you aren't willing to let him explore your body out of self-respect, I promise you can do better. If you want a guy to love and appreciate the things about you that are beyond your sexuality, don't offer up your sexuality. 

    Now, that paragraph was more on a just getting to know each other basis/early dating stage. Let's say now you've been together for a long time and you're confident that he does love you for everything that you are. Now, honestly, it's based on YOU. For example, I watch bits and pieces of Ohio State football games, and I love seeing them win.... From the warmth and comfort of my couch. So, say I won season tickets that are right on the 50yd line, or something. I would probably sell them. To me, they just don't matter that much and it isn't a huge deal. But if a HUGE OSU fan who loved the team with his heart and soul won them, he wouldn't give them up or let other people touch them and their value to him would be a whole lot more than their value to me, even though they would be the same thing. In a way, our bodies are these OSU season tickets. Some people truly just don't think it's a really important thing, and that sex is just a healthy part of a relationship. To each their own, because once again, this decision is based on your beliefs and yours alone. However, some people are the die hard OSU fan who would cut off a limb to get season tickets on the 50 yard line off. To him, they are more valuable, just like to some people, their body is more valuable. I'm one of those people. I may wait until I'm in a long committed relationship, engaged or married. I think sharing your body with someone else is not only an intimate thing but an incredibly connective thing as well. You are becoming one with someone, and to me, that belongs within the confines of something more special than a couple of months. 

     Lastly, I would like to clear up a misconception. A lot of freshman/underclassmen apparently were under the impression that being in high school while being a virgin is embarrassing and an abomination, or something. As a senior who is also a virgin, and a senior who is friends with quite a few, I can promise that that is absolutely false. Honestly, if you're being judged for being a virgin, literally don't even worry about it. You are in good company. It's not shameful.

     I'm not saying wear floor length skirts and turtlenecks for guys to respect you for more than your body. I'm not saying wait until you're married to kiss someone. There's nothing wrong with flaunting off your good assets to an extent. There's nothing wrong with having fun with a guy you're into. There's even nothing wrong with having sex, if it's YOUR choice based on what YOU want. The only thing that's wrong is doing it if you don't want to. If you're having sex because a guy wants you to, or because friends are teasing you. It's YOUR body, do what YOU want with it. 

My Biggest Fear

     Halloween may be over, but the scariest thing in the world is still out there, lingering about us, looming over our heads like a deathly storm cloud. This is scarier than any horror movie, haunted house or costume you have ever seen. It is as inevitable as each passing day, and as much as we'd like to stop it, we can't. It is the fact that some of the people we are currently attending high school with will be participating members of society. If that's not enough to make you feel physical signs of fear, I don't know what will. This may sound like a joke, but I am everything but joking. This isn't as much of an insult as it is a wake up call. Try to snooze me and I'll keep calling back.

     For starters, PLEASE learn how to spell. Please. You might think I'm a grammar nazi. I know I'm not your legal guardian, nor am I your English teacher but I have my concerns. One day, presumably, you will find a job. You will be providing a service for people, and one may be me. All I'm saying is that I don't want a person who can't differentiate between "your" and "you're" providing these services for me. The bottom line is that you are failing to grasp BASIC grammatical concepts, and one day you will have to grasp even harder concepts, grammatical or otherwise. It frightens me that one day, a person who fails to see a difference between "hole" and "whole" may have to do something for me that requires responsibility and intelligence. You are my peers, and will be forever. At this point, it doesn't make much of a difference but once you are a fully engaged member of a society that I, too, am a fully engaged member of, I would like to be surrounded by intelligent people that I feel safe to put my responsibility and trust in. 

     Along with that, a lot of kids I go to school with simply just don't care. They're doing illegal things irresponsibly. I don't care if you smoke weed or drink, but don't be an idiot about it. You're 18 or below. You have the majority of your life ahead of you, so be smart. But I mean something seemingly less important when I say they don't care. A lot of students don't care at all about their academics, which makes me sound like a mother or a public speaker, but it truly concerns me. Not only are they not able to differentiate between basic homonyms, they don't care to. Learning has become so unimportant. Maybe that's because of the way our education system is run, but I think it's more because students just don't care. We learn so we can become more engaged members of society. So maybe you think government class is awful, but as someone who will be effected by the choices YOU make at some point, I would appreciate if you paid attention. Until you're preparing to enter the "real world" you don't think about it, but you will all go your seperate ways, but in the span of 4 years, all of the people in your high school will be entering with you and I would like them to be educated. I would like to have informed people voting for issues. I would like intelligent people to perform services for me, and I would like the people I am in the "real world" with to be educated. 

     Another issue is constant fighting. This paragraph's target demographic is underclassmen, but there's a select few upperclassmen it applies to as well. Constantly starting fights on social media and otherwise isn't a great way to go through high school. Not only will your malevolent, foul words be things potential employers and colleges look at when deciding whether to employ/accept you, but it's an incredible sign of disrespect. Underclassmen, lacking respect for people who are above you will one day cause more than an entertaining social

media outburst. I know you think you're cool for being in a fight with a senior or junior, but you're not. I promise you. And I fear for the day where you dislike someone above you at your workplace so much that you get demoted or fired almost as much as I look forward to it. The bottom line is that if you give respect, you will receive it back. Upperclassmen will be nice to you if you are nice to them. I assure you, however, regularly starting pointless twitter fights with upperclassmen just to provoke a response isn't the way to go. At school, we are taught math and English but we are also given the opportunity to learn how to respect people. I suggest you take it. 

     This is not meant to be an insult to anyone in particular, or even an insult at all. I'm not trying to sound like your parents, your teachers, or any member of authority. I'm speaking as a future participating member of society who fears living in a world with uneducated people. Too many terrible things happen when incredibly intelligent people are attempting to make them right, and I would rather not see what would happen when we put uneducated people in charge. I'm not saying spend your entire weekend every weekend studying. I'm not saying if someone says something mean to you to reply "it's okay. I respect you". I'm not saying go into school with an "I physically cannot be more excited to learn today" attitude. But we are given an opportunity to be educated before we enter life as fully participating citizens, and as a future fully participating citizen, I wish everyone, myself included, would grab that opportunity and take it. 

Change

   Smart phones and internet access have undoubtedly taken the very life out of us as human beings. It's difficult to walk somewhere, or even drive somewhere without seeing the vast majority of people entirely consumed by their cell phone. We think having the latest device or the coolest apps will make our lives more fulfilled when in reality, the exact opposite is happening. In fact, we are losing the ability to enjoy life because we are viewing it through the screen of a cell phone. I believe that our technology is not only making us less intelligent in terms of intellect, but in terms of simple social matters. The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is a problem, and I believe there is.
    When is the last time you came out and told someone how you felt about them... In words? It seems like ancient history. Why could you ever speak to someone whilst looking at their face when you could type out what you feel whilst looking at their contact in your phone? Why tell someone you have a problem with them when you could post something on the internet about them that you can battle out without ever having to see each other? Why give someone a compliment in person when you can just comment on their picture when you get around to it? Why truly show and act on your belief system when you could just tweet about it? The answer is that it is easier. You don't have to deal with someone rejecting you face to face, or fighting with someone in person. You don't have to step out of your comfort zone to tell someone you hardly know they look nice when you can casually like their photo. You don't have to deal with the everyday struggles of living up to the values you set yourself to when you can just post on social media how great of a person you are. I think it all boils down to fear. We are afraid of rejection, or confrontation, or looking stupid or being judged for being different so we cushion the landing of "putting ourselves out there" only over the internet or the cell phone. But the issue is we aren't putting OURSELVES out there, we're putting a fake, perfected version of ourselves out there. We have created a split between who we are on the other side of a phone screen, and who we are face to face. We're becoming two distinctly separate people. The ability to sit behind a computer screen or a cell phone screen has turned into the ability to create an entirely new persona. The problem with that is that our made up personality is taking away from the ability to have an actual personality. We don't know how to have a deep conversation with someone in person. We can't comfort our friends without spending 5 minutes deciding what to type out. We can't argue with a friend or significant other without having time to figure out what to say. We can't meet new people without first messaging them on some sort of site and getting to know their internet persona first. We are quickly losing the ability to engage in a simple conversation because we don't have the computer or phone to hide behind, or the element of time to intricately plan out every word to say. I think the other main issue is that we physically cannot be without our devices, which is a problem all in itself.
    We are no longer living. We're alive, we have beating hearts and we have the ability to move and think but we don't. We don't want to master the English language because we have autocorrect. We don't feel the need to hang out with friends all the time because we can text them. We don't feel the need to get out and live because we have the world at our fingertips. On Facebook, the bar asks how you're feeling. "Bored" is one of the most common status updates. "Bored" is one of the most common twitter updates. "Bored" is one of the most common instagram captions. Why are we so bored with "the world at our fingertips"? We buy the latest phones and apps to be entertained but we are still so bored that we have to post it for the entire world to see. That is significant evidence that the latest technology doesn't make life better. Sure, it might make it easier in some ways, but in no way does it make it more fulfilling. Why are we so bored? Because we have to sit at home alone to keep updated with social and world media. Why do we have to keep updated with social and world media? Because it keeps us interested. So why are we so bored? Because we have to sit at home alone to keep updated..... You get it. We can't have a real life conversation without checking our phone. We can't listen in class or to a presentation to check our phones. Some of us can't even drive 5 minutes without checking our phones. We define ourselves by the number of followers we have, and we define how well we are doing in life by our online persona's popularity. We're doing it horribly wrong. We're bored because we're too comfortable stalking celebrities on Twitter or taking photos for Instagram likes to get up and go out and live. No matter how boring your life or your town or your surroundings seem, I promise it's more exciting than refreshing your twitter feed 47 times in 5 minutes. We're lacking life experience because we're not willing to go out and create it. In 40 years, people are going to want to hear stories about the crazy nights you had when you were a teenager, not the evening plans of everyone you followed on Twitter. I don't have a solution, but I do know we need to make a change. We need to put our phones down and start living a life as the person we are, not the person we created online.