It’s about that time of the year again. Seniors are frantically trying to make it to graduation while juniors realize they are stuck with the major they picked. Sophomores and freshmen, enjoy the early years while you can.

“We’re juggling school, work, relationships, friendships, health issues, etc,” said Savannah Ramsey-Stresinshe, time arts graduate student. “Everything can pile up all at once and it’s easy to just crack under the pressure.”

Stress has pretty much become an everyday part of our lives. What can we do about it? Well, not much. Sure, there are little things you can do to alleviate stress temporarily, but in the long run we will always be stressed out and one of the main reasons is technology.


With gadgets such as MP3 players, iPhones, HD television and computers, we are constantly being surrounded by entertainment. People make use of this technology in order to avoid critical thought. These devices do not relieve stress, they simply mask it. The problems we have and emotions we feel are buried beneath a heap of beeping plastic. Technology makes it much easier for people to avoid social interaction, something every human needs. If people are constantly shut away in their technological shell, the stress they feel is only going to grow worse as a result.

Something needs clarification. Social interaction means making a real connection with the people around you. It does not mean binge drinking until you declare your love to a room full of strangers. In order to relieve stress, people need to actually connect with one another. It’s all too easy to go about our day like ants in a straight line; never daring to change the daily routine.

People need to stop hiding behind a flashing screen and meet people. Students must learn to interact and talk with others instead of being crippled by the universal fear that we won’t be accepted.

But even establishing strong bonds with others can’t cure all stress. It is simply human nature to reach for more in life. We are being pushed harder and harder to compete with one another and for what, money? It has been said thousands of times, “money does not buy happiness.” And it certainly won’t make you live any longer.

According to an article, “Study confirms that stress helps speed aging,” by Rob Stein on the MSNBC Web site, “Chronic stress appears to hasten the shriveling of the tips of the bundles of genes inside cells, which shortens their life span and speeds the body’s deterioration, according to a small, first-of-its-kind study involving mothers caring for chronically-ill children.”

Seniors, we have made it a long way. But the road of hard work does not end in May of 2010. Far from it. There are jobs, graduate school, relationships, apartments, bills and the list goes on. The point is that we can’t avoid stress. As long as we wish to be a part of society, we are pretty much doomed to be stressed out for the majority of our lives.

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