Have you had an opinion lately?

One of your very own, not crowdsourced via social media or validated by others on one of the myriad sites that review everything from what you wear and where you go to what you do and how/when/why you do it?

An article I read today mentioned a 1950 book that described this mindset with eerie accuracy.

People went from being “inner-directed’ to being “outer-directed,” from heeding their own instincts and judgment to depending on the judgments and opinions of tastemakers and trendsetters. Having lost touch with themselves, outer-directed souls were all alone in the midst of other people.

I had to laugh.

Young people love to brag about their individuality and uniqueness; call themselves rebels and scoff at their elders as being stogy and unoriginal.

Actually, it’s just the opposite; always has been if you looked under the hood.

But these days that need to fit in has been taken to extremes never before dreamed of.

Every thought, idea, feeling, attitude, menu, what to buy, where to shop, what to wear, where to eat, movie to see—the list never ends—everything, from the big picture through any and all minutiae is a group decision.

Independent opinions and decisions seem to be the province of (mostly) older folk who aren’t wired to their smartphones, addicted to social media and came of age when thinking for yourself was a sign of intelligence and sophistication.

Your very own opinion—try it, you might just like it.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

This entry was posted on Monday, May 6th, 2013 at 1:15 am and is filed under Personal Growth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: original, social media, wired
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