• About
  • Advertising
  • History
  • Staff
  • Contact

The Andersonian

The Anderson University Student Newspaper

Anderson University’s Student Newspaper

  • Campus News
  • Audio
  • Features
  • Arts & Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
  • COVID-19
You are here: Home / Opinion / We are a product of our products

We are a product of our products

February 20, 2019 by Andersonian Staff

We are hiding. We are shapeshifting. We are wearing a mask. 

So often, we, as a society, find our “comfortable” behind our screens, lurking in the virtual world and stealthily pretending to be someone we aren’t.

A false sense of confidence seamlessly weaves its way into the cracks of our keyboards, and the light of our screens takes over the shape of the lightbulb over our heads as our ideas suddenly seem to only come to fruition when technology is present.

Is it easier to be who we want to be without showing our faces? Do we type things on an app, send messages to others, post pictures to mask our insecurities and put on a brave face of false security?

Some believe our generation to be simply of technology, one that hides behind our phones and sends out messages that they wouldn’t dare say to someone’s face. 

Don’t you want to prove them wrong?

Don’t you want to be more than technology?

We can’t be the purest form of ourselves when we feel the greatest sense of accomplishment when we receive a certain number of likes on a post, when we stir up a good debate on the wall of an app, when we handle conflict online—in a manner that never really resolves anything. 

There is so much hurt and unrest that comes from people agonizing over and misunderstanding the lack of influction from reading a text. No one will ever benefit from handling a horrible situation on the internet. Tweeting out your opinions and getting into an argument on countless topics will never truly fulfill you. Why continue to pretend?

We are becoming the product of the products we, as humans, produced. We are leaving the old ways behind us—open and honest and personal communication, preferring WiFi-to-WiFi over face-to-face—all in the name of “easier.”

But is it truly beneficial to write bold comments on apps rather than having a conversation about it in person? Are we doing ourselves a favor or a fault by relying heavily on the pretend life that we have made “real” online?

In a world in which there is so much hurt, so much brokenness, so much sin, it might make living in community and loving other people much easier if we learned to be authentic even when we don’t hold a little “world” in our hands.

We might find that we actually enjoy the real world, the tangible and natural life that the Lord made, if we quit pretending to be something different, if we got personal again, if we took off the mask.  

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Opinion

Watch

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Gillian Lintz interviews Dr. Sarah Neal about the current status of COVID-19 on campus and discusses the Boze Lyric Theatre’s upcoming play, “The Drowning Girls.” Mason Fridley provides updates on men’s baseball and men’s tennis standings.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Video

Listen

Sky Cramer

In this audio story, Zac Tallent speaks with junior cinema and media arts major Sky Cramer about his passion for film and photography and making the most of his time at AU.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

“Anything Goes” Encore this Saturday, April 23

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Fall Into Dance

Claire Mountcastle speaks with dancers Hannah Frick and Leah Pitman about the upcoming student-choreographed performance, Fall Into Dance.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

The Conspiracy

Claire Mountcastle speaks with senior Melanie Marchena and director of orientation and first-year experience Nii Abrahams about The Conspiracy, a newly-formed community of students created to support AU athletics.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Audio

Follow

andersonian Andersonian @andersonian ·
5 Apr

Check out the latest episode:
https://andersonian.com/2022/04/05/andersonian-2022-04-04/

Reply on Twitter 1511404967436988434 Retweet on Twitter 1511404967436988434 1 Like on Twitter 1511404967436988434 1 Twitter 1511404967436988434
andersonian Andersonian @andersonian ·
27 Mar

Student-created Instagram accounts cause controversy on campus.

Read more:

https://andersonian.com/2022/03/27/instagram-accounts-polarize-students%EF%BF%BC/

Reply on Twitter 1508168748573806602 Retweet on Twitter 1508168748573806602 Like on Twitter 1508168748573806602 1 Twitter 1508168748573806602
andersonian Andersonian @andersonian ·
23 Mar

Check out the latest episode!

https://andersonian.com/2022/03/23/andersonian-2022-03-21/

Reply on Twitter 1506671676725022726 Retweet on Twitter 1506671676725022726 1 Like on Twitter 1506671676725022726 1 Twitter 1506671676725022726
Load More

The Andersonian, the student newspaper of Anderson University, Anderson, Ind., publishes a print edition and maintains this website. As a matter of institutional policy, the University administration does not review or edit Andersonian content prior to publication. The student editors are responsible for both print and online content. While the administration recognizes the role of the student press on a college campus and in journalism education, the views expressed in the Andersonian are not necessarily those of Anderson University.

© Andersonian 2017, All rights reserved · Site by Mere