21st Century Emerson

I think that a 21st century Emerson would be disappointed with the society. When looking at today’s society one thing that is associated with Americans is that the majority of us are lazy. This is especially apparent in the media, which, other then experience is a way the rest of the world views us. Usage of television, computers and telephones are way more popular and more highly used then in Emerson’s time. Instead of going outside and playing, many children are glued to the television, which does not shape a good future for them. He spoke of how we learn things during our childhood and youth and know them forever as pictures and important memories. But when people are inside and not going out and experiencing the world those memories become very insignificant. At the time Emerson wrote the American Scholar he described Americans to be “timid, imitative and tame.” This is the opposite of what he views as a scholar, and the society has gotten worse. Teenagers always complain that they are bored, but a scarce amount of them actually go out and observe. They do not learn from nature, they rarely learn from experience, but only the little amount from the books that they choose to read. It has been said that the habits that we learn from childhood stick with us for the rest of our lives. Looking at today’s society I think that Emerson would still see the “Tragic consequence,” that he saw before.