One of the greatest – and most disturbing – developments in global culture is the rise of the virtual society. There, people are inherently free to say what they want, and they can experience life through the newsfeeds and photo galleries that can be accessed, showing life as it happens.
However, this “instant access” culture is breeding generations of people who think that exploring the virtual world is the way that life is meant to be lived –indeed, in some parts of the world, people have given up on even meeting other people, preferring to interact with them online, rather than risk a personal
meeting, face to face. If you’re in your 20’s, though, what you should be doing is going out, and exploring everything. And here are the reasons why.
The very idea of experience makes it necessary
Life experiences are meant to be personal – in fact, research suggests that memories are formed not only by observing events, but also by attaching emotional responses to these events. You simply cannot do that if you are observing everything on a screen. In fact, what you’re doing may be the exact opposite: you are training yourself to be dispassionate, ignoring the emotional responses. Is it any surprise that many people isolated in the virtual world complain about monotony?
Experience not only allows you to be a party to events, it also allows you to have emotional development, and, if you’re lucky, you can develop both an intellectual and emotional equilibrium. You can’t do that if you’re stuck behind a screen all day, just waiting to reach your thirties.
Limited view
Experience is also necessary if you want to have a different
way of looking at things. After all, by experiencing life firsthand, one also learns to see events, people, and objects from different perspectives. Limited experiences can easily become highly polarized opinions, and can even result in questionable ethics and
morality, since the person has not been able to see a wider range of human actions.
A waste of youthful energy
As you grow older, you will find that responsibilities will be more central to your life – at least, until you retire. It’s a good idea, then, that you should enjoy life, and experience as many things as possible (within reason, including moral and ethical boundaries, of course) while you are young. That way, once you hit your thirties and your forties, will have no problem settling
down.
Experience builds confidence
Every new experience allows you to learn more about yourself, and good experiences allow you to stretch out and explore your own character. That being said, it’s no surprise that people who experience more things in life tend to have more self-confidence, compared to people who prefer to observe things from behind a computer screen.
While you’re young, you should make the most out of your youthful energy. You should travel, see the sights, and try out reasonable new experiences while you still can. That way, as you grow older, you will be wiser, perhaps less willing to do
stupid things – since you’ve done them already.
