We are the proud millenials. We are the generation building the future through apps. If we are hungry, we just click the food app and voila, in just a few seconds we have a yummy burger with fries on our table. If we are traveling and we get lost in an amazing city, we simply open Google Maps and within seconds we know the exact path to our hotel. We can even “call” for a taxi to take us there. Without taking our wallets out. And so on. But what happens when we feel lonely? When we miss an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend? When you stopped missing someone and you feel anxious to meet someone new? Our parents used to go to the favorite bar. Get drunk and talk to the first girl or boy they like. That’s crazy. For us, today, there are also apps for that. And this is when our generation screws everything up.
Human connections have only one condition: to be. Be there for someone else. And technology, specifically, mobile phones, allow you to be there when things are going well and everything is beautiful. But they allow you to disappear when the sun hides in the clouds as well. We just have to press “ignore messages”, unfollow friend, delete the profile. And the connection is “over”. A friend, a family member, a love interest. Gone. I don’t like the way a friend is behaving, so I delete them from my WhatsApp group without saying a word. My (insert family member here) made an unfortunate Facebook post, I press “hide posts” and at the next family reunion, I won’t speak to them. I no longer like the last guy I met, so I ignore his messages. Eventually, he will realize that I am no longer interested.
All these shitty actions are simply inactions. The inability to look inside ourselves and have the courage to face what’s happening to us. Because hiding behind a phone is easier.
This is the generation that evades. If we can avoid walking 5 or 6 blocks to the pizza place and actually talk to the employee, we do it. If we can avoid asking strangers where the fuck are we standing in an unexplored city, of course, we do it. How can we not avoid telling another human being that we are no longer interested in their company? We avoid arguments, we avoid conflicts, we avoid feelings, we avoid telling the truth.
Honesty should have value.
I am aware of how difficult it is to be sincere today. Because not everyone has decided what they want in life. We all have our own demons, we all have time to be silent, but we also have moments in which we must act. Especially when it comes to the connection with another person. You can never know what is going on with this other human being. You cannot assume, you cannot get conclusions just because. We can sell ourselves the story that by not telling the truth, we are doing this person a favor. That we are better people by “not hurting” someone on purpose. But ignorance also hurts. It could be someone who had to become stronger after going through some shit. He or she might not get that affected by your actions, but why would you add more shit to the pile? Or even worse, on the other side of a relationship, there might be someone who is so frail and vulnerable that doesn’t even know how to deal with the feeling of being ignored.
Either way, we can try to stop thinking about ourselves. And just tell the truth. Face to face. Or through an app. At least we should try. Maybe that’s the way we can avoid, a little bit, the worst part of being from this generation.
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