John Graney

Community and the Duality of Life in the Digital Era

	Our world has changed so much over the course of our lifetime; this new digital age that we are now a part of has brought a variety of things, both good and bad, into our lives.  Social media has the power to connect all of us in amazing ways.  It can connect us from town to town, state to state, and country to country.  However, the interconnectivity that it has brought has not been without its downfalls.  We’ve seen social media used in much more recent history to divide our country between its two main political parties.  Moreover, social media has led to a large amount of deception and pressure as a result of people presenting lives that are not true to their lives in reality.  Social media has no greater influence than here on college campuses across America.  In this Moreau integration I am going to describe the things that I have experienced on account of social media, and I am going to describe what makes Notre Dame the great university that we know it as. 

Approval is a concept that has been prevalent in our lives for quite some time, and this quote from Julia Hogan speaks to a  new era of approval that we have found ourselves in. “Don’t look to others for approval or for directions for how to live your life” (Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit by Julia Hogan - Moreau FYE Week 9). This concept of approval is something that is drilled into us every single day.  Some may think that as new college students, we have just made it through our most stressful era of approval in our lives, but in reality, the next step was just starting.  Following our approval into college, we all needed to find approval from those around us, and make friends in a completely foreign environment. Everybody wants to be liked, and everybody wants to make friends, but the important thing to remember is that we do not need anyone's approval to live the lives that we want to lead.  Trying to present a fake side of yourself to people to gain their approval will only make you temporary friendships.  However, once you let go of the need for approval, you can finally start to be yourself, and make friendships that will last a lifetime.
	
	In our era of social media, this idea of approval is also more prevalent than ever.  You have to look good on your instagram posts so that special someone will follow you back, and you need to continue to get your followers approval or they will unfollow you.  This outrageous system has consumed many young adults, and children in our world today and has led to the editing, and capturing of fake, temporary smiles.  It is the realization of the falsehood that is social media that will finally allow for you to take a step away and realize that what the people on social media are showing off is nothing more than a facade meant to impress their extremely important followers.  

	After looking at this aspect of what social media can bring, it is important we now look into some of its other effects.  This next ripple that social media has caused is a major divide in our country.  Although this is not all as a result of social media, it has no doubt played a key role in our country’s divide between democrats and republicans.  “A country whose citizens treat one another with scorn does not have a bright future” (Wesley Theological Seminary Commencement by Fr. John Jenkins - Moreau FYE Week 10).  This quote is taken from Fr. John Jenkins during his Wesley Theological Seminary Commencement in 2012.  In his address Father Jenkins speaks about the divisions in our county that were feared by our founding fathers to cause tension within our country.Our two party system has caused so much division and hatred within our country and smart men have known that a two party system would cause this division before the ink of our Declaration of Independence had even dried. As social tensions continue to rise to newer highs everyday, we are seeing our country become divided between democrats and republicans with hatred coming from both sides. 

 	I have seen the effects of this hatred first hand within my family.  My grandmother on my mom’s side is extremely liberal and has been for a long time, while my grandparents on my fathers side are extremely conservative.  The minute that politics makes its way into the dinner table, every other conversation taking place is swept away and the two sides begin to gear up for full on verbal warfare. A major reason for their seemingly crazed actions is caused by social media, and new programs that they are watching every second of every day.  My grandmother on my mom's side lives and breathes MSNBC while my father’s parents always have FOX news running.  The divide that these media outlets have caused in our country I am seeing firsthand within my own family.  

	While these two points I have brought up hold legitimacy, I would be remiss if I did not bring in the interconnectivity that social media has also provided as it has allowed for us to find the communities that we belong in. “Community does not depend on intimacy and must expand to embrace strangers, even enemies, as well as friends” (Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community by Parker J. Palmer - Moreau FYE Week 11). Community is where we find the people in which bonds can be created.  I think that looking for connections through this lens of community is a great idea and it can be really helpful to take a step back and look at the bigger picture in terms of the way we are connected to others. With the help of social media, we can find communities of people with all sorts of similarities to ourselves, and we also find people with differing viewpoints than our own.  Both types of connections are equally important to the building of a greater community, and social media without a doubt has a lot of great characteristics that allow for these communities to be made. 

	To finish off this integration, I would now like to get away from social media, but stay within the realm of community: The Notre Dame Community.  “A person’s capacity for lifelong discipleship is hard to predicate from exam results or resumes no matter how well formed he or she may be” Holy Cross and Christian Education by The Campus Ministry - Moreau FYE Week 12). Notre Dame has always represented a place apart from ordinary school systems.  Everywhere we go across the country we will find institutions that will inform us, and make us into smarter people; however, the University of Notre Dame represents something more and this quote speaks to its goal for us as students.  The University of Notre Dame brings a great education and faith into the same community and it is truly what makes it stand out from the rest.  When making my decision to come to the Notre Dame Gateway program, I had a lot of doubts. Both of my sisters went to Notre Dame before me, and I had never heard of the Gateway program or what it represented.  When it came to a decision, I was down to two schools: the Notre Dame Gateway Program or the University of Miami.  I visited Miami with gorgeous sunshine, perfect weather, and the campus was beautiful.  I thought after visiting that I had found my place to go.  Soon after that, however, I visited Notre Dame.  I was taken on a tour in 0 degree weather with snow cutting at my face.  Even though these were the two conditions, the University of Notre Dame felt warmer that day.  The overwhelming support that I knew that I would receive at the Gateway program, and the continued guidance in my faith was the reason I decided to come here.  I had hope that this great University would help form me into the man that I always wanted to become. Three months later, I know that I am in the right place.