AUGUST 5, 2205 SOPHIA ELLIOTT

Societal Norms
Rule The World
THE WRONG PRIORITIES
LED TO IRREVERSIBLE POLLUTION MASS CLIMATE DETACHMENT
ACCELERATED MIGRATION LACK OF HUMAN
CONSEQUENCES
CLIMATE CHANGE FORCED RELOCATION CONNECTION

THE ABOLITION OF
PHYSICAL INTERACTION
SUPPRESSING THE POWER OF HUMAN CONNECTION

Imagine walking down the halls of high school, holding hands with Holding hands, a
your significant other, laughing with your friends, rolling your eyes at the loving gesture that
chaos in your math class. Or remember a time when families would huddle has become extinct
together around the fire with blankets and hot cocoa, telling stories of their in the completely
virtual society of
Realicity.
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childhood. Over 180 years ago, this was how humans connected.
This has become an impossibility in today’s society with the new
law, unanimously passed by the government of Realicity in 2204, Once valued human
stating that all physical interaction will now be prohibited. The connections lost to
diminished ability to have true intellectual connections with others
has already been a hard pill to swallow, and physical interaction technology
was the last thing linking society to it’s humanity. With physical
interaction abolished, all human qualities and characteristics are
soon to follow. The lack of human connection has gone too far,
and we have already begun to see the consequences, yet it is
just the beginning. Society must not stand by any longer and let
all humanity be lost to history.
A large consequence caused by connecting and
interacting with people entirely through technology and social
media is a tendency to become more self-involved. With gaining
a social media presence or influence, many people quickly
become big-headed. They become obsessed with money and
power, leading to unconventional methods to gain said money
and power. This applies to all business and commerce as well.
Last month, FoodWorks, a fast food chain, was found guilty of
putting trace amounts of various drugs in their strawberry
flavored smoothies to keep customers coming back for more.
This was not a rare occurrence, in fact, similar criminal acts
happen everyday. FoodWorks did not care about the
repercussions it may have on people’s health, all they were
worried about was profiting and gaining popularity. This is a sad
truth that many people choose to ignore because they are too
concerned about themselves. The lack of physical interaction
strips away people’s ability to care for one another and
consequently, people resort to unorthodox measures to fulfill their
ambitions. Historical interactions of
Similarly, trust is eliminated with the loss of human family, learning, and friends
connection and interaction in society. People are limited to have been either replaced
connect through the virtual reality where lying is presumed. This or completely destroyed by
causes distrust for everyone around them, even for people that the virtual platforms of
are honest. People find it hard to relate and comfort those who social media, online
are lying. But, if everyone believes that all people are deceitful, businesses, schools, stores,
than even the well-intentioned people are unable to help. and more. Our only form of
According to CharityHub, donations to charity have decreased by connection becomes
150% over the last year. Many organizations falsify the number of distorted and illusory with
donations in order to keep a larger amount of the profits. This the lawlessness of the
leads to a decreased amount of people willing to help the cyberspace.

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organizations as they are aware of the criminalities that occur in many of the groups.
Another negative side effect of the absence of physical interaction is becoming detached
from people and society. In a technology based society it has become increasingly harder to both
maintain and conceive new relationships. With the ability to transform into whomever or whatever
one wants, nobody can truly know what is real versus what is fake. Inevitably, many people become
isolated and often feel extremely alone even if they have friends or family. This year, the Bureau of
Social Science randomly surveyed 5000 people, asking them a few questions about their mental
health. The results showed that 80% of people were at once or are currently diagnosed with clinical
depression and 68% of people had considered suicide on multiple occasions due to the loss of
meaningful relationships with friends and significant others. Depression is very common in the
digital age we live in today. Without the physical and emotional comfort of friends and family,
everyone is susceptible to loneliness and detachment that, in many cases, can lead to self-harm
and suicide.
These various side effects to banning physical interaction were not the government’s intent.
The government’s intent was maintain control of Realicity and “protect the people from themselves”
and what has become of the Earth. The government fears that if people become too attached to a
certain person, physically, they would begin to want more of a relationship outside of the virtual
reality. If people become aware of the relationships they aren’t able to have in a virtual reality, they
may begin to feel hostile towards the government or feel deprived of certain rights. Hostility would
lead to revolts, uprisings, and chaos; in a technological world, chaos spreads like wildfire. However,
the government is unaware of how their decision is counteractive. Rather than preventing uprisings
it could cause a lot more. Although it is not extremely common for people to physically interact,
enough people do to where it could become a problem if that privilege was taken away.
The lack of human connection has taken a turn for the worst with the abolishment of
physical interaction, leading to various destructive consequences. The simple solution is to repeal
the law that bans physical interaction. We also can take steps to humanize society by requiring a
certain amount of “family time” and interactive time with loved ones. But, this requires the members
of society to stand up and make the government hear us. Our voice is louder as a community rather
than individuals. Speak up now, influencers call on your audience, spread the word, before it’s too
late.

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