Romanticism

Description
I do not think that Romanticism is alive today due to social media, our system of education and our cultural norms of finding entertainment in technology, lacking appreciation for nature, and learning by thinking and theorizing rather than doing (like Walt Whitman suggests in his poem about astronomy and looking at the stars).

I think that relative to most people I am a romantic because I try to use very little social media and I try not to follow the crowd, but I do not think it is possible to truly be a romantic, nor do I think it is something to strive for. Being a romantic means being more connected to nature and idealism than it does to other people and reality. I think that people could use a bit of romantic energy to break from society's more unromantic ideals (listed above), but our society is already overly individualistic, like many Western cultures, favoring the individual over the family or the group, emphasizing the "bootstraps" ethic etc. Therefore, I do not think it is hypocritical to be taught romanticism in a classroom because some of its components can be effectively embraced without completely denying your current lifestyle. Romanticism seems ideal in theory, but if everyone acted all the time instead of thought, or never connected with the people around them, the world could become an immoral, lonely place.