Nonchalance originally represented a “calm or cool” demeanor. Now, social media culture has transformed the word entirely to convey the common habit our generation has of presenting themselves as a blank, apathetic individual. And as we continue to curate our social media profiles, overthink our every text, and squash down our real personality, we ostracize ourselves from society, further contaminating us all with the disease of nonchalance. 

My crush is the bane of my existence. Every time we text, there’s at least one instance of him just sending the word “type.” I’m pretty caught up with current slang, but what does he mean when he sends that? He doesn’t even give me something to delude myself about. At least if he was sending more than one word at a time, I could pretend that it was requited. Instead, he chooses to be the utter epitome of nonchalance.

Just a few decades before, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, since nonchalant means “behaving in a calm manner, often in a way that suggests you are not interested or do not care.” So what if my crush behaves in a calm manner? Yet today’s cultural significance of the word “nonchalant” extends its meaning to something else entirely, often describing a person who acts unconcerned despite sometimes feeling the opposite way. To seem “cool” people take measures to refrain from showing their true emotions, a restraint they assume will elicit positive responses from media culture. 

Being “nonchalant” in its original sense is not inherently bad. Sometimes, it’s important to remain cool and collected, especially in situations that require extreme focus. But when this collective indifference rises to the point that it blocks both experiencing and expressing our true emotion, nonchalance becomes a disease that quarantines us in a way far worse than COVID could have ever done. Because it quarantines us emotionally. And in a society where we find it hard to connect with others in the first place, now is not the time nor the place to pretend that we’re okay. 

In being nonchalant, we abandon all pretense of real emotion. Whether we’re terrified or content, gleeful or melancholic, we express the same blank expression of indifference on our face. The nonchalance mask we find necessary online separates us from our true identity which is already difficult enough to forge. Ultimately, we become blank, uniform creatures, incapable of having a true identity. And if there’s anything that summer reading novels such as 1984 has taught us, it’s that conformity can be deadly. 

Even if we originally found it normal to express our every thought, nonchalance has fostered a generation of young people who find it uncomfortable to express almost any of their true feelings and thoughts. In doing so, the lack of true appreciation and sympathy for real emotion can only grow. And perhaps some would be content living in this dystopian universe, but it would be my personal nightmare to live in a society where emotions are discouraged and inhibited. 

In the classroom, I can already see traces of nonchalance impeding both interpersonal relationships and the learning experience. Attempting to remain cool and apathetic, many people refuse to contribute to discussions and force the teacher to be the only one speaking. When did we stop collaborating in a shared learning environment and refuse to feel academic embarrassment? In doing so, we drown all traces of appreciation for knowledge with that nonchalance. And in our friendships, when we refrain from sharing our personal thoughts in fear of being “too much,” we don’t become nonchalant; we become noxious to those around us, replacing our empathy with emptiness. Our lack of an ability to say something, is downright embarrassing.

So how can we begin to reform this toxic culture? Here’s the easiest method: to uproot all traces of nonchalance. It sounds impossible, right? Well, that’s because it is impossible. After all, even the most influential activists cannot remove every bit of a poison. Still, we can change the trajectory of nonchalance in our own lives. Start by raising your hands more in classes, even if it’s only for the sake of your teacher. Talk to your friends without inhibiting even a bit of your real personality. And don’t be afraid to act like an embarrassment in front of your crush, even if they’re nonchalant. Because, just maybe, you can change them.