Society Is Dead, We Have Retreated into IWorld by Andrew Sullivan - Article Example

 “Its strange to be among so many people and hear so little” (Andrew Sullivan)
Andrew Sullivan writes about the death of our social and cultural life. In his essay, Sullivan describes how society has led its way to destruction with the help of technology. Technology, which was once used to help us now, leads us to a path where everyone is free but imprisoned. Sullivan has his degree of doctorate in political sciences from Harvard and writes different blogs and essays about current issues related to our social and political lives. Editor of Andrewsullivan.com, an essay writer at Times and an analyst, Sullivan in this essay describes his visit to the once known as city of lights and life, a city which never sleeps, New York and record his observation in a beautiful way by describing how the city has changed with technological advancements and generally applies all he sees there to the whole world.
The essay starts with a question, a common question, the answer to which we all know but ignore since we are too busy. The answer to the question raised by Sullivan is Yes, we all miss a lot when we have our earphones plugged in our ears and we are listening to the music of our choice which makes us oblivious to our surroundings. Sullivan describes his visit to New York, where he observes the silence in the crowd of millions which makes him feel less alive in once called city of life. According to Sullivan, everyone in the city had white cord coming out of their ears and going in their pockets where the precious iPhones playing music of their choice resided. Everyone seemed like dumbfounded, everywhere in the city he went, he found people not talking to each other, not communicating with each other but listening to music. Music which was once a mode of communication and sharing now becomes the sole reason for this silence and imprisonment of souls.
Sullivan’s essay beautifully describes what is wrong with our current society. He gives a simple example of people listening to their own songs and not communicating with the each other and explains the death of our culture and society. The change in our society has been explained in this essay with the examples of apple store being turned into churches where people would go every Sunday and offer their prayers. The only difference between an apple store and a church is that in a church people actually pray. Also, Sullivan explains that too much use of technology has led to this failure of culture and the devastating change in our society. We rely more on technology than on each other these days.
In a nutshell, Sullivan’s essay could not explain and describe the current over use of technology and its devastating effects on our society any better. He has taken himself as an example and explained how a simple mp3 player like an iPod becomes a necessity of his life. Although technological advancements have made this world a global village, we are all alone and far away from each other in this village.




Work Cited
Andrew Sullivan. Society is dead, we have retreated into iWorld. Read More