Each year I say the same thing.

“I have changed this year more than I ever have before.”

The thing is, every year we grow so much. Spare me the sentimental comments about growing up and being a teenager, but it’s all true. Every year, the experiences we have and the way we react to changes mold us into new people.

We not only become older and more mature physically, but we naturally become more experienced and exposed. But maybe it really isn’t us who is changing.

What was once considered an unspeakably horrific event is now passed by without a blink. Major events that would have seemingly shook the world when I was in elementary school now barely affect my day to day life. Isn’t this the opposite of how it is supposed to work?

I am supposed to become more intellectually minded, something I feel I am. I am supposed to care more about major events, which I feel I do. However, social media and society suppresses and covers important events with biases and “fluffy” stories, forcing us into a tunnel-vision mindset.

No longer are headline stories the headline. I heard more about “Alex from Target” and YouTube videos with 1,000,000 views than I ever did about Ferguson, Isis, etc. In school, only one of my classes took time out of Sept. 11 to talk about 9/11 and its effects on the world. Even less talked about the Olathe suicides.

Whether this is our fault, is anyone’s guess.

This isn’t something that can be pegged as anyone’s fault. We have fallen into a cycle, where we hear about big events and in our personal lives, and try to bring up our spirits with happy thoughts and distractions. However, this attempt at ignoring our pain and worries has gone too far.

In my opinion, we should spend less time worrying about our own entertainment, and more time discussing things that affect us and our world specifically.Not so we can worry about them and make ourselves crazy, but so that we can grow the way we are supposed to and be prepared for what is to come; good or bad.

This isn’t to say we don’t change at all. Of course we do, especially at this age. But maybe it isn’t all us. The world changes too.

Check out this Ted Talk from Alisa Miller which explains this idea completely: