Struggling to communicate the truth

"Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."

Lately we have been bombarded by blog posts and videos and social media campaigns to stop our crescent tendency to stop socializing. Stop us from socializing in real life,of course.

Living in the day-to-day rush of our routine, we start to forget of the good manners, of the art of conversation. Of course we like going straight to the point, not to go to many times around the bushes and solve things fast. Why would I like to talk it out over a coffee if I can just text it and get an answer IMMEDIATELY! Why would I like to share a meal with my friend, if I already told her everything over a whatsapp message! it sounds ridiculous! 

We do not anymore make small talk on the elevators, we fail to greet people that crosses our path. We might have , a while ago, lack of these proverbs as the palm oil of our conversations, but now we even lack of the conversations.

When stating this characteristic of the Igbo culture, Chinua Achebe was trying to prove to the Europeans that even thought, their civilization and culture was not the same one as the Europea one , it did not mean that they were not civilized. 

Then we can say that our lack of the art of conversation, where we can talk either with our best friend or a complete stranger, is also a lack of culture and a sign of a poor civilized community. We have forgotten about those moments when even small talk was entertaining and not just an awkward moment that we couldn´t wait to get rid of.

WE could also apply the concept of the Gyres to our current situation. We are becoming so isolated, that our era will come inevitably to an end, spinning the gyre until a new era and cycle begins.

As I said in my last post, as it was present in the Southern Culture, appearances are also a big topic in "Things fall apart", Okonkwo constantly trying not to be preceded by the reputation of his father, killing his step son to avoid appearing as a "weak" man, or Enhancing and applying a new filter to the picture of his son, in order to make him more "likeable". (HA HA)

We have been talking about changes of times, changes on traditions, civilization. We analyze different contexts and different stages of history throughout literature, but at the same time we realize that we are struggling with the same topics, the same injustice and the same changes, as if in a gyre, over and over again. Maybe we just got better at ignoring it, or maybe we are just struggling to communicate how it affects us and how we would like things to be different.

I personally struggle with these topics as I am 1/2 immersed in this social media "era" and half because of being introverted.But I still believe that as modern literature has being dealing with these topics, we can also do so. And don´t get me wrong,I think that social media can be very useful, but we do need to start worrying when this, so called "social" media starts to keep us from living, the "real" world.

What do you think? Do you believe that as Okonkwo´s constant fight to be accepted drove him away from what he wanted to become, social media is becoming an obstacle for us to become the best "us" that we desire?