Blog: A Shift in Interaction

Our generation doesn’t know how to make eye contact. So far this semester, Yoda has essentially told my sociology class to be as awkward and intimately interactive with our classmates as possible and to take note of the results. As a person that has taken this to heart, I was scared for us. Since when was it unacceptable to call instead of text a friend with good news?

Our generation doesn’t know how to make eye contact. Political efficacy has come to mean commenting on Facebook statuses instead of picketing in front of the Capital. We have become so invested in remaining in a stagnant setting: sitting at a computer screen in the safety of our homes. When we do take action in the flesh, we hardly know what to do with ourselves.

Our generation doesn’t know how to make eye contact. What would happen if we put a group of Redditors in a room with nothing but a couple of phones and a phonebook and told them to take action. No computers, no memes, no Internet resources. Would they be able to make a difference?

Our generation doesn’t know how to make eye contact. If you are standing alone in the hallway, how many of you whip out your phone? If you manage to engage in conversation and it starts to die, I can almost promise that you will start texting.

Our generation can’t make eye contact, and there is no excuse for the lack of face to face interaction. The thing is, our world is changing. Those face to face interactions aren’t as important anymore. The SOPA/PIPA online protest was probably one of the largest protests ever orchestrated by young people and when that becomes a cultural norm, our generation won’t need to know how to make eye contact.