Let me put my generation on notice: our time is fast approaching.
With the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama for his second term, our country now faces multiple turning points that could potentially shape the foreseeable future. It is a future that my generation will occupy filled with more unknowns than a quadratic equation, and the answers to these variables aren’t easily solved.
Following the same formulas as past generations, we will only see the continuance of a now imperfect system. Something must change. A certain degree of foresight is needed by my generation to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.” But such a thing cannot be done by my generation.
We have fallen into a technological stupor. A static haze has spread across millennials so dense that our voices have waned in stature. While the President finds voters on Facebook and Twitter,  but decisions about our future won’t be made in some chat room.
Social welfare? Not a thread on 4chan can solve it. Pollution? Sepia tones and borders may make profile pictures look nicer, but Instagram won’t make our polluted skies look any better. Immigration? Building a wall of iPhones certainly won’t make a difference.
And that is just what we are doing. Living in a technologically walled garden, filled with sprites from an LED screen. How real is that? When will we step out of this neon garden and into what has become a world rife with social and economical problems, not only at home but worldwide?
Researchers speculate that American college students spend an average of 14.4 hours per day on some type of media as found by re:fuel in its 12th annual “College Explorer” survey, conducted by Crux Research. That is more than half of the day. From checking statuses to staring at power points, our daily lives are filled to the brim with technology. It is here I make my point.
I caution my generation that we are heading for a level of connectedness that will inevitably result in our detachment with real world issues. Sharing with friends and family your vacation photos is perfectly normal. But let this not become our generation’s greatest feat.
We are positioned to do great things. Do not let the vast online landscape replace what is so unique about where we live. It is in our ability to combine such mediums to truly help in solving our country’s problems and a way to make our voice heard through the infinite digital world.