Ever feel disconnected with modern life?

[ValentinianIII]

Even though I haven't played Civilization in ages, I'm posting this here because you all seem pretty smart. Has anyone ever felt disconnected from modern society or feel like it's heading the wrong direction?

After serving a tour of duty in Iraq and returning to civilian life, I've been doing a lot of thinking, hiking, and living outdoors over the weeks to help calm myself. Basically, I feel that the society we have created in so much of America isn't natural to the human condition and I want nothing more than to escape the endless marching drone of modernization. When I see commercials advertising gaudy luxury goods, TV shows and news with the no redeeming intellectual qualities, people wasting their lives glued to video games or other forms of instant gratification, I feel bothered. I feel bothered we have created a society built on the need for vast requirements of energy and limited natural resources available in the long term. I feel bothered that America is losing it's sense of local community, pride, and good living sense in favor of wallowing in narcissism and sybarite lifestyles.

My parents live in nice, big house in a gated suburb community with all the luxuries a high income family could provide yet I would hardly it good living. None of the neighbors bother to get to know one another since every form of entertainment is provided within their own palaces. Urban and Suburban sprawl has completely dominated any natural landscape for miles. Yet, I don't care for any of these things. I don't want to own a state of the art TV system with surround sound or the finest luxury car money can buy. I don't want to live the life where I spend my time commuting from one artificial environment to the other in the hopes of earning enough money to buy the next hot item on the market.

I haven't really been too happy in a while but that time spent camping and hiking was absolutely wonderful. I just wish I could live in a simple community close to nature. Maybe I was just born in the wrong time period.

Both my parents are convinced I have PTSD from my tour in Iraq and that I am trying to escape. They want me to seek help. Does anyone share similar sentiments or am I just crazy?

 

[toh6wy]

I know I feel that way from time to time... sometimes I wish I'd been born several centuries earlier than I was.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

If anything, you are one of the more sane people on this Earth. You've realized precisely what this world is; many people are presented with this realization at some point in their lives, but few will realize and accept their new enlightenment.

As for feeling like you've been born in the wrong time period, I know exactly what you mean. I often wonder, though: had I been born in different time period, would I still long for the nostalgia of the past?

EDIT: I didn't realize this was your first post! Welcome to CFC, and to Off-Topic!

 

[aneeshm]

First of all, welcome to CFC and the OT.

And as far as the post goes - you're completely right.

 

[Elta]

I agree with a lot of the things you said, I would try to go in depth but it would take a while.

I am taking anthropology as my major and I should have my book finished when I graduate in about 4 years; I hope to explain the way you nd a lot of us feel and make it into a psuedo political movement. (I started writing the book because allmost any political or lifestyle discussion leads me into a 4 or 5 hour lecture )

All I can say is stay tuned I suppose
I will have a early powerpoint lecture and discussion in a year ( here in Vegas) to allow me to learn what people understand and don't, that way I can find better ways to explain things.

Next year in the middle of June (I have to see about diff. confrence room prices). Please come if you can I think you will enjoy it.

 

[Perfection]

Even though I haven't played Civilization in ages, I'm posting this here because you all seem pretty smart. Has anyone ever felt disconnected from modern society or feel like it's heading the wrong direction?

Nope!

After serving a tour of duty in Iraq and returning to civilian life, I've been doing a lot of thinking, hiking, and living outdoors over the weeks to help calm myself. Basically, I feel that the society we have created in so much of America isn't natural to the human condition and I want nothing more than to escape the endless marching drone of modernization. When I see commercials advertising gaudy luxury goods, TV shows and news with the no redeeming intellectual qualities, people wasting their lives glued to video games or other forms of instant gratification, I feel bothered. I feel bothered we have created a society built on the need for vast requirements of energy and limited natural resources available in the long term. I feel bothered that America is losing it's sense of local community, pride, and good living sense in favor of wallowing in narcissism and sybarite lifestyles.

Losing pride in favor of narcissim? Narcissism requires pride! Adn Symbarite lifestyles? When has America not been near the greatest of living conditions?

I know that through online stuff I've gotten much much much better access to intellectual crap. If you don't want your mind to rot you can do it much better with tecnology!

My parents live in nice, big house in a gated suburb community with all the luxuries a high income family could provide yet I would hardly it good living.

Well maybe they want different things out of life?

None of the neighbors bother to get to know one another since every form of entertainment is provided within their own palaces. Urban and Suburban sprawl has completely dominated any natural landscape for miles. Yet, I don't care for any of these things. I don't want to own a state of the art TV system with surround sound or the finest luxury car money can buy. I don't want to live the life where I spend my time commuting from one artificial environment to the other in the hopes of earning enough money to buy the next hot item on the market.

You don't have to be about the latest and greatest goods to embrace the modern culture. I embrace the new connectivity and mediums to express myself in! Sure the whole keeping up with the Joneses is stupid, but having nicer things that you actually use is pretty cool.

I haven't really been too happy in a while but that time spent camping and hiking was absolutely wonderful. I just wish I could live in a simple community close to nature. Maybe I was just born in the wrong time period.

You still can! You just can't be chatting away on the internet all the time or be as sure of your health.

 

[DNK]

Read the "[America = wimps]" thread, as there's some good conversation to this extent (well, at least me rambling for a couple pages).

I have written a lot here, but am hesitant to say anything for sure, not knowing you or your situation very well. It's quite possible that you are under a lot of stress from your time served, which is a pretty natural reaction. Modern society and its demands are stressful in their own right, and just as naturally you're going to want to find some escape.

I completely agree, and without any possible personal PTSD, though. I'm where you're at, trying my best to get away from the mainstream lifestyle. I was born and raised in the suburbs and can completely understand your view on them. My own conclusions over the years are pretty much what you've said here in every respect, so I won't repeat much, but it's all there. Honestly, I can't think of any differences. If it weren't for the Iraq part I'd wonder if I wrote this originally.

I can't comment on your sanity (as I can't comment on my own ), but from these mere conclusions, this hardly points at craziness. They're all logically formed, and therefore quite sane. Against the grain, yes of course, but logical (which tends to be against the grain, unfortunately).

I'll suggest, however, a semi-conclusion I've formed over the years, which isn't the most inspiring: you're always going to be somewhat out of place if you're, well, out of place. Your feelings, although shared by some, aren't shared by many, especially not in the suburbs. Just a warning if you start down the path you're going here, that it might not be all roses.



I could talk for hours on this stuff, so I'll cut it short with one last comment. These feelings come and go. Some stay for the long-haul, and some are a product of specific circumstances. That doesn't mean you should ignore them if they're the latter, and hope they go away. If they're what you feel, and you have good reason for feeling so, then develop them. True moments of clarity are rare in life, and you can toss them away like trash and forget about them, preferring the security of the well-trodden trails, or grab hold and let them change your life. Your choice, no one else's.

I would say I envy you for being at such a turning point in your life, where it not for the fact I'm at such a point too. It's a great time to be living in, remember it well. The rest of your life will be decided in good part as to where you go now. It's a lot of responsibility, but the best kind.

 

[DNK]

Oh, and on nature vs. technology. There's something to be said for the tranquility and simplicity that can be found outside of the internet, cell phones, traffic jams, and TV lineups. No, it's no reason to completely give up all technology, which I don't see you as considering, but technology is like all powerful things: it needs proper restraint (a lot).

Best of luck with this, and thank you for your service.

 

[Prince_Imrahil]

It isn't PTSD, but it isn't as bad as you think either. What is it that you long for? Nature and community? Well good start with the hiking/camping part, why don't you get some friends together every so often and do that...and what have you done to mingle with your neighbours? Sure yes its not easy as it was 'back in the day' but if you put effort into trying to accomplish what you desire, you might make some progress into realizing such things! What would you do in a small nature close community? Farm? What does that mean? Do you wish your family spent more time together? Get them together. Dont want to be a consumer drone? Dont be. Do what you want to do, who care what everyone else is doing. You can't expect things to be all fine and dandy, they never are. A LOT of people feel how you do about 'modern society' but in all times there were the downs as well as the ups. Go find the ups and forgot about the downs.

 

[White Elk]

Welcome Home!!

I think I understand exactly how you are feeling. As far as I can remember I have always felt that I was born during the wrong time. That I was meant to be born in a society very differant from my own. I wanted to live in any society that was not disconnected to community and the Earth. I struggled to adapt. Then finally after a 2 week backing trip in the Sierra Nevadas, I was returning home to Southern California. As I neared Los Angles I grew sick at heart. My friend felt the same and we decided in an instant that our packs contained everything we needed to survive and there was no need to live within the rat race anylonger. We briefly returned to quit our jobs, upgrade our equipement, tune the VW and say our goodbyes. Then we left and didn't look back.

For nearly a decade I traveled the country living out of my backpack. For the first year we travelled with a VW Bus but then sold it as the overhead costs and the need to stick to the roads were limiting our freedom. Less than a year later my friend 'settled down' and I continued on. Everything I owned I carried on my back. I worked seasonally as needed but lived very cheap and so I did not have to be tied down for long. I lived out of doors and away from mainstream society. I had no access to Television or radio. For the most part the people I came into contact with were similarly disconnected from the media and mainstream society. At times I lived in backcountry communities, other times I travelled like a gypsy participating in Lakota Sun Dance ceromonies throughout the country. Sometimes I travelled alone and other times I travelled with a small group of likeminded explorers.

I lived out of the mainstream society and my thoughts and experiances were very differant from when I lived the norm. My priorities in life changed drastically. When I put away my pack and began to become redomisticated again I was disoriented. Societies priorities seemed FUBAR to mine. The media was whacked and I couldnt watch television because everything I saw was a disconnect to whats important in life. Most people I meet were alien to me as they were fully immersed in a consumer society that placed greater importance in the self than the group (unit). What seemed important to them was of the least most importance to me. Its difficult for me to put this into words. It all just seemed so hollow. Unimportant to whats important in life. I felt that my society was acting like a drug addict as relates to the acquisition of material goods. And society felt less like a community of human beings who relied on each other for survival; and felt more like a pack of rats scrambling over each other to get their scraps. LoL or like those Rats with Wings ;~)

I cannot know what you have experianced in war. But it seems to me that being out of contact with mainstream society for a prolonged time and then returning home will always be disorienting. And I can imagine that in a combat zone it becomes very obvious how people rely upon each other for their own survival. So coming home to an individualistic and materialistic based society must have been particularly difficult for you. Maybee you are experiancing some PTSD and it is something to consider if so. But I would say that most definatly, at least some of your difficulties relating to this society are simply because you are Human. You do not accept this consumer based focus of our society. You seek something more. And like me, you were away from this society and then returned which further amplified your feelings. You saw a glimpse of something more and then returned to something less.

My advice to you is to seek out like minded people. They do exist. For me I found them in Native American Sweat Lodge communities, in coffee shops and in the backcountry etc. Before I left on my journey I attended field study trips for my local college. Most of the trips were backpacking trips and the people I meet were great people. I've also meet some very great people while doing community service projects. People who take the time to help others are likely the kind of people you are looking for. The act of actively participating for the good of ones community is a very powerfull experiance. It restores my faith in my people. Continue to spend time outdoors and seek out others who feel the same as you.

Goodluck Valentinian and godspeed your journey!

 

[TheBladeRoden]

Peh, I'd rather have been born in the future, maybe then my house wouldn't be littered with bugs!

 

[White Elk]

...And move out of the Suburbs!! Live in rural America. From my experiance small mountain towns tend to be more community orientated and less materially motivated. You'll see less shiny new cars and more practical vehicals. Less fashion and more utility. And people tend to understand their role within a society better. Cost of living is more reasonable. Quality of life is better. At least for me, and from what you've written I think it would be true for you as well.

Travel around the country looking for seasonal work. Then discover that local where you want to settle down. Envolve yourself in that community and join the volunteer Fire Department, or engage in other community service there. I think you'll find a society within the main society which will suit you just fine. Don't settle for second best. It is your life afterall. You know how you want to live it. So do it!

 

[The Yankee]

Both my parents are convinced I have PTSD from my tour in Iraq and that I am trying to escape. They want me to seek help. Does anyone share similar sentiments or am I just crazy?

First off, thank you for the service you've given to this country.

I'm not sure where your parents got the PTSD idea from, other than the fact that it seems a fair share of vets have come down with it. But having a different outlook on what makes a rich life shouldn't be a reason to suspect that unless other things are going on.

I do understand your points on feeling detached from our version of what life is all about. Personally, I couldn't stand to be away from a lot of technology if it were taken away from me tomorrow, many of which are really luxuries (think finally having an air conditioner), though for my line of work, some of it may be essential (think Internet). But your points about community and direct contact are valid and I do agree with those. Maybe you do feel outside of our typical way of life...but then again, technology can also aid you in your quest for life as you seek it. Starting from places to explore to like-minded people to meet and organize social gatherings, there can be uses for things like the Internet that won't take away, or even enhance, your ability to connect with all kinds of people and thrust yourself into nature.

Maybe America won't wake from what seems like a collective coma in front of Us Weekly and keeping up with the Joneses, but the great thing is that there is so much to America that you can find what you're looking for and pursue happiness.

Hopefully you find what you seek soon and you can build your life around it.

 

[Tee Kay]

I've never felt I understand how society works anyway. I would prefer to spend my life in a cottage in a forest somewhere.

 

[Lotus49]

[...], I'm posting this here because you all seem pretty smart.

Alas, your post is neatly blended with comic relief.

 

[BasketCase]

Even though I haven't played Civilization in ages, I'm posting this here because you all seem pretty smart. Has anyone ever felt disconnected from modern society or feel like it's heading the wrong direction?

Yes. Today's trend is towards the iPod and the cell phone; towards being plugged into the Internet 24/7. My philosophy? No iPod, no cell phone. I don't plan to get either, ever. Technology is nice--when it actually accomplishes something. More and more of the gadgets we own today are simply bells and whistles.

Both my parents are convinced I have PTSD from my tour in Iraq and that I am trying to escape. They want me to seek help. Does anyone share similar sentiments or am I just crazy?

"Normal" is generally defined as "like everybody else". You've experienced something most people have not; you've changed as a result of it. That scares people. They want you to be like them.

Something that's in very short supply in the world--and here in CFC--is respect for people of different opinions. Far too often, right here in Off Topic, I see people trying to rewrite each other to their own specifications. "If you don't think like me, there's something wrong with you". Most people just don't seem to get that intelligent people are necessarily going to come to differing conclusions about a world in which there IS no one "best answer".


Kudos for your efforts in Iraq, and kudos also for coming home safe and sound.

 

[Brighteye]

It's partly your character, partly (probably) the contrast in life between living closely with a few fellow soldiers and living at home, and partly that hiking is so much fun.
Don't give up on modern society entirely though.

 

[Commodore]

@ValentinianIII: Firstly, welcome to CFC and OT. You know I have felt exactly as you do for as long as I have been capable of intelligent thought. In fact, one of the many reasons I am enlisting in the Army, is so I can get away from society and all its failings. The only thing I differ with you on, is that you seem to only see this in America, where as I have lost faith in humanity as a whole. Eventually, I just learned to carve out a little niche for myself and a few trusted friends, and separated myself from the dystopia of planet Earth.

 

[Lotus49]

Let me give you guys a hint. The way to 'win' here (at life), is to not let this place (or the people, or the traffic, or the computer, etc.) get you down. When you start caving in, and adopting the outlook of -for example- the above post, you are conceding defeat. This world has beaten you.

C'mon... how long are you gonna live? 70, 80, maybe even a hundred years tops? I figure I can last that long, without becoming some old, bitter sourpuss. I fully intend to beat this place, and leave with everything I came in with - having conceded nothing.

See, it's a fighting spirit you've gotta have. "Never say die". Never quit, as long as you can still think, and breathe.

Don't let the defeat of others - drag YOU down. Screw that. I dunno about you guys, but I'm beating this place, at it's own game. Right to the very end. And I'm proably at least 1/3rd done with my life already. Is this all you got, you SOB?! I could do this for a thousand more years. This place is weak. *spits*

It's a challenge. Might as well stay strong... just for the sake of staying strong. And I have a feeling I will be rewarded. Afterall, this world has already BEEN beaten... hasn't it...

 

[Speedo]

Has anyone ever felt disconnected from modern society or feel like it's heading the wrong direction?

Oh yes. Despite the fact that I'm easily more of a "geek" than many people I know (computer stuff, programming, etc) I don't get into all the other hysteria around the net & technology. Haven't sent an instant message since at least 2004. No myspace account; do have a facebook account but haven't logged on since the day I created it. Don't email that much except for what I'm required to do for work. Haven't even owned my cell phone for a year yet (only got it to save money) and haven't sent a sent txt message or etc from it.

The real irony is that I just don't like people that (frickin annoying things, human being tend to be), but sometimes it feels like I'm still about the only one left who cares for human contact and face-to-face interaction.