Luke is a 15 year old boy, he is good at a few things and bad at many others. He is lucky to have a middle class,loving family which he spend less and less time caring about nowadays. He has a 3DS, an Iphone, an Ipad and a Macbook, as well as past suicidal thoughts and a low self esteem. He is unique in his own ways, but many of his problems are just like others'.

He blasts Green day songs and rock music when he's sad, lofi when he works or feel melancholic, and Ed Sheeran when he feels lonely. He played games with his bros and when he's not hanging with them, he chills in bed with his 3DS catching pokemons. Sometimes he feels angst, like he doesn't know what to do, he doesn't have a hobby that he can do everyday apart from video games because they don't teach him about this at school. He resort to playing on his phone, usually scrolling through Facebook or Youtube for memes, or engage in small talks with friends through a screen. He doesn't like socializing not because he's bad at it, he thinks he's just introverted. His days went smooth and easy, one just like the other, and it seems like Luke's having a pretty good life.

Far from it, he thought. Sometimes, just every so often, he is left not without anything to do, but with emotions that he cannot deal with. Its that same feeling he knows so well and try so hard to avoid, a mixture of boredom, a touch of sadness, a sprinkle of loneliness, and there you have it. It lurks in the corner of his mind and will come around the moment he ran out of games to play, or people to talk to, or when he scroll through the same thing he saw yesterday on the newsfeed. It's the same reason he shouldn't be far away from one of his many electronic devices. For if that feelings suddenly comes up, he'll chase it away with a text to someone, playing a song or two, or if at his very most desperate attempt, have a stroll through the endless abyss that is social media. All the useless thing he would hate to do, and hate to witness someone else do that adds nothing to his day or life, but after all he hates them less than the nameless feeling. He, like many others of our kind, can't face to be alone.

It seems rather weird and ironic. No matter how many iphones, ipads or gaming consoles he tries to surround himself with, to say that they alleviate loneliness is stupid, for they are no humans, or living beings. Yet in a sense, they both do and don't. These machines connect people together and are capable of real human communications, however, they are even more capable at mimicking the vibe of human interactions, for the people that feel alone (and let's face it who doesn't). They are always there for you. Reactive to the touch, with bright vibrant colors and screen displaying moving images, and the fact that it is capable of making sounds and send notifications makes it the most human everyday object. Sure it's addictive, but only because the sensations it provide is so real, in a world that is alienating. However, the feeling of connection is illusionary, which ranges from a mere function of machines designed to imitate humans at its worst, to usually stupid, shallow and boring conversations at its best.

By being sucked into our phones and devices, we ignore the very things happening before us. Imagine being on a bus and using your phone at the same time. Apart from the obvious fact that you have a high chance of missing your stop, you also miss out on so many other things. You won't look at other people or your surroundings, which is detrimental both to yours and others' safety. You'll probably not notice a cute girl who's reading a book that you happen to be interested in. And even if you did, you are guaranteed to not talk to her if either one of you is wearing earphones. The worst part isn't about the chances of you getting into an accident or missing a stop, it is your faded engagement with your environment and its most crucial aspect: the people, yourself included. We connect with music through headphones, and yet at the same time, unplug and shun away from others. We ignore our environments, our own mistakes and imperfections, our social wellbeing, ourselves.

The world is said to be at its best in time, but its inhabitants does not feel the same way, they might be wrong of course, but the fact that so many of us are unhappy or struggling with life means our feelings should not be overlooked. The problem with our problems isn't that they are hard, more daunting or inherently impossible to solve, it is merely that they are not diagnosed, recognized, and simply not being dealt with.