Do you ever look back at old pictures from decades ago, or even just pictures from when you were younger, and think, “Why can’t we just live a simple life?” A life without over-the-top technology; a life without as many pressures; a life where problems aren’t as complex as they are today. Our society today has evolved so much in an extremely short amount of time, and it still continues to change every day.

When you take a look at society today, it is all about who looks the best and who did what at that party and what celebrity has gone crazy. It is all surrounded by gossip. Due to technological advancements in recent times such as social medias, gossip has become very widespread throughout our lives. So widespread, in fact, that it is so normal to us and we are sucked into it. Of course, there has always been gossip, but it has become so negative and powerful that it has led to terrible things such as low self-confidence and depression. Our gossip is ruining people’s lives.

Also, peer pressure is a major issue of our time. Whether it is sex or drugs, it is a big part of today’s society. These two things are so commonly used in TV shows and movies that we have become numb to the reality of them. Even children as young as elementary school are becoming immune to sex and drug pressures, even if they do not know much about them. They do not hear about the bad things that can come out of them, only the good things. This is not teaching good morals, and this needs to stop.

Slang in our society has changed, as well. Nowadays, we have abbreviations for everything. From “OMG” to “bae”, I don’t even know half of the shortcuts for phrases these days. Obviously, these derived from texting and from not wanting to have to type out long messages. But this is not necessarily a negative thing like the last two issues described in this article; it is simply something unique that the people of the world today have created. No other generation has come up with everyday shortcuts like we have. It might even sound crazy to someone from the early 1900s. They might be “LOLing.”

Overall, society has changed in many ways, even more ways than stated in this article. In the future, I expect these trends to still continue, as they are now a part of our normal lives. Technology is still improving, and new ways of thinking and new values are being formed. Most recently, miniscule things have been known to trend overnight (#AlexFromTarget), and we will most likely see similar hypes in the future, as people have been easily popularized these days. I only wonder if society will improve in the future, or just go downhill from here. Only time will tell.