Over-Sensitive or Desensitized

When I read articles or watch reports on T.V., I have seen a lot of contradictory conclusions. No one seems to notice or be bothered by these contradictions, so I thought I would write about one to bring it to people's attention.

Many people claim that children or people in general are becoming desensitized to the world around them. We are supposedly desensitized to violence and crime because we see it on T.V. and in the news. We are desensitized to the suffering in other countries because we see it on T.V. all the time. We are desensitized to the reality of global warming because the effects creep up slowly. We are desensitized to negative emotions and mental health problems because we see them everywhere yet we don't discuss them.

On the other hand, there is the claim that everyone is becoming too sensitive. We are said to be too sensitive about politics and religion. We are too sensitive about differences of opinion. We are too sensitive at work and school because our parents never gave us any "tough love" or we had an easy life. Our bodies are too sensitive because we haven't had to do hard work. We are over-sensitive with our emotions because we never learned to deal with them.

I know that it is possible to be sensitive to one thing and desensitized to another. But all these claims of "desensitized" or "over-sensitive" are not singularities. They are claims of society as a whole, and society as a whole can not be mostly desensitized AND mostly over-sensitive at the same time.

I think the debate between desensitized and over-sensitive should be looked at as introverts and extroverts. For a long time people believed you had to be one or the other. But it should be looked at more like a sliding scale. Some introverts are closer to extroverts and vice versa. Likewise, some people are more desensitized, while others are more sensitive, but they are all a little of both, and it can change due to circumstances. With this complexity of feelings and emotions in each individual, it would be very hard to add them all up into an "over-sensitive" society or a "desensitized" society.

I guess what I am trying to say is, don't put labels on people or society just for the sake of simplicity or a good story. There is scientific research on the subject, but not nearly enough to make blanket statements like "Society is over-sensitive" or "Society is desensitized". We are a complex mixture, and we should be treated as such, not dismissed as a single problem.