I have been wanting to write about this for some time now. There is something so wrong with our generation. We seem to have lost most of the qualities that make us what we were created to be. Let it be if you believe in God who created us, or the alternatives of evolution, natural selection or aliens that “brought us from another world” (bum bum bum).

We have become a generation where people are more worried about the brand name on their shirt than the quality or purpose of it. More worried about Facebook than they are physically meeting friends in the open and having fun. More worried about “that Xbox achievement” than they are finishing a day of school that wants to teach them how to be better people. More worried about talking on the phone, then paying attention to the person standing next to them who is there to spend time with them (let it be friend, or more).

This truly is sad. What’s worse is that it spreads to the older generations as they begin to lose hope in this new one.

I find more and more that neighbors ignore those that live around them vsbuilding friendships. Growing up, I knew most of my neighbors. My parents know most of theirs still to this day. Since I moved out on my own, I have moved three times as I progressed from an apartment, to a townhouse and finally a house of my own. Ever since leaving my parents house while I was attending college, I have yet to truly befriend any of my neighbors, in either of the three moves. Neighbors act distant and try to avoid social contact instead of better understanding those who live around them. Neighbors used to be someone you could rely on for neighborhood watch, a friendly chat or keeping an eye on the mail while you’re away. To help with projects in the garage, yard or simply join you in exorcize. None of this happens anymore like it used to.

Instead, people walk around shunning those around them as if they had some kind of disease. You may have neighbors that move quicker to get inside when you say hello, or look at you as if you are a druggy if you randomly say hi to someone on the street.

I thought when I bought my house, that this would change. Now I live among other sound life investors who have planted their roots into a home and plan on sticking around. Now is the time to learn more about the spot you decided to root down at and make some friends…since we will be seeing a lot of each other. Right? Nope. Nothing has changed. On my street, I half-way know about 2 houses (when they care to talk vs avoid someone). The rest of the houses don’t acknowledge anyone.

Both kids and adults spend more time on their cellphones than they do on each other. Social skills have been completely redefined, no longer about how well you communicate in person with others, but how many friends you have on Facebook (that you mostly ignore anyways as the number usually gets too high). The fall of MySpace didn’t teach us anything.

True heroes have been replaced with celebrities and brands, everything around us is a repeat of something else (ie, movies), friends that stick around into your adult years that you have known since childhood are but a myth any more and a solid respect for life-long relationships is gone.

I can go on and on and on about the last one. I was raised by somewhat of a hypocritical family when it comes to traditional relationships/marriage, but the knowledge they installed on me stuck. I am a firm believer that a relationship shouldn’t be taken lightly. That a marriage should be for life and that family is everything. You can have so much in the world, but none of it matters if you have no one to share those things with. So why take something like that lightly.

These days, everything seems to come with a return policy. If you marry someone, it’s ok if it doesn’t work out, because you can always send them back…right? Wrong. So very very wrong! The new generation has crippled the true purpose of relationships.

I saw a sign at a recent event that said “Love means never having to say anything because you’re both too busy looking at your smartphones”. It nails our generation on the head. We spend more time playing with our cellphones than we do paying attention to each other.
Times, attitudes, and qualities have changed with our generation. People are more worried about Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. More worried about hobbies and financial gain. More worried about texting how we feel vs letting someone know to their face. Not so much about family, life-long relationships and holding hands. Everyone should go out and watch movies like “Idiocracy” and “Branded”. See what is happening to us and where we are headed (regardless if the acting isn’t the best in those movies… 🙂 )

I have always tried to hold a smile in the darkest of moments. To look ahead with positive thoughts, and always get up when I am knocked down. To offer positive advice and words to others when they feel they are astray. Eventually I fear society will take that skill from me. Eventually it will no longer be welcomed.

So being this site gets 200,000-300,000+ hits a month, I am hoping enough people see this and think about it. Consider what we can do to make our generation better. To prevent it from getting worse with generations to come. To consider taking back the qualities in life we seem to have forgotten about. To maintain hope. Else, the crazy guy on the street with the megaphone saying the end is near, may not be as crazy as we think (Revelation). 😉

[Updated: I edited it to remove a scenario that I didn’t feel was fair to share with the entire world. Felt more like a vent then it did a sound example since I’m in a bit of the dumps and I am not exactly looking to vent or share anger toward anyone (I would like to hope that I am better than that). Although persons related won’t read any of this, my apologies are there out of respect]