‘Connecting’ is defined as joining or linking things together, especially so as to provide access and communication.

Since phones and social media entered our lives, being constantly connected to the ‘outside world’ has become easier. Now, with just a couple of clicks, we can connect with a friend that lives in another country, which is pretty awesome after all. With the development of technology, a whole lot of connections became easier and faster. However, other types of connections have become harder, such as the one we have with our soul. It’s a complicated relationship, the one we have with ourselves, probably the messiest but at the same time the one we need the most. If we are not connected to ourselves in the first place how are we supposed to get in touch and understand everything else around us? 

Digital World Means…

Online platforms, like social media or Google, created a completely new world, that is parallel and closely linked to our own: the digital world. So, of course, as humans are used to doing in order to survive, we adapted to this new world and we changed, deeply. This is a time in history where we can still see how huge of a gap technology put between generations; my grandma doesn’t even own a computer while I, personally, wouldn’t know how to live without one. Certainly, times have changed before, but never this fast and this deeply. 

…Digital Soul

Having to adapt to this new world forced us to change our habits: just think about the fact that twenty years ago texting wasn’t a thing, people called each other. For us millennials it sounds just weird, since texting is the main way through which we connect with the people in our lives. Our habits changed and, with them, our beliefs. In today’s world it’s becoming harder and harder to have the time to be in contact with our deeper-self. But not because we don’t practically have the time but because we spend it browsing in the digital world.

I wonder if our souls, today, have the same needs souls had thirty years ago; I bet not. I feel pretty safe adding to the word soul the adjective ‘digital’, it represents better who we are now. We don’t seek the approval and understanding of the people we love anymore, or at least, it is not enough. We want the approval of millions of strangers on the Internet. We share videos, pictures, we tell our funniest stories and deepest secrets, and all in the search of someone, out there, that feels like we do. And we are sure that, doing so, we can get to know ourselves a bit better, we can connect with our soul. 

Always Connected

Times have changed, most people don’t spend time confessing to a priest or talking to a therapist anymore. I mean, why bother spending the time and money when you can just shoot a text to an unknown person that randomly will examine your life in 5.2 seconds just taking a look at your social media accounts? It’s faster and easier for everyone. It might seem like we finally reached a good solution to our problems. So, how come that a lot of young adults today feel lonely? We are full of online friends, we have hundreds of people texting us and tagging us in posts and still, we have never felt more alone. Everyone just got so used to saying how technology brought us all closer together that we often forget about all of the ways it actually separated us. We are always connected to others, but rarely to ourselves.

However, like every situation in life, I guess there are pros and cons to the world we live in now too. Of course it’s not perfect, but what is? I think that at the end of the day what matters most is that we experience it all, and technology is helping in a way that was never possible before. Having friends in a different country I can get to know a new culture and beliefs that are different from mine. I can learn about new traditions and possibly visit a great and amazing new place. This is what, in the long run, will bring us all closer together, because it’s through understanding that we can deeply connect to someone else. It’s by knowing that there is so much more out there, in the world, that we can truly figure out who we want to be, because if we only ever know one reality we are not even given the chance to decide for ourselves. So get out there, in a way or the other, and explore the world: it’s the best way to get to know you. 

Cover: Nasa