A Teen's Take

POMEROY–The art of personal conversation has dwindled since the isolation mandates of COVID-19. Instead, in its place is texting, Facebook posting, emailing and other electronic ways of communication. Not only have we lost the one-on-one conversation, we have lost our conversational manners.

I think the biggest thing we’ve all missed out on during Covid-19 is the social aspect of life. A lot of my friends are fairly quiet, shy people and I am not going to lie, quarantine has not been great for them. Even for some super social people I know, have kind of gone into a shell where they don’t really know how to talk to people. Why is it that a few months of being alone in our own homes has pushed us backwards in this area?

A lot of people my age, a few of my friends even, feel a lot more comfortable online, behind a screen. They text or post something in a way they wouldn’t normally if they were in person. I just don’t understand why is it this way? Why aren’t young people encouraged to be kind when addressing others or even how to start a conversation? It’s not something we automatically know. It needs to be taught and practiced. I suppose it depends on how a person is raised and what kind of things you encounter in your everyday life that determines how we relate to each other.

Talking is a lost skill and honestly, it bugs me. Why is it that we are texting or Facebooking the most important conversations of our lives?

I hope everyone survived this week’s heat and took advantage air conditioning.