Into the Wild Chapters 1-5 - TheUtmostTrouble Forum

phones

cgoulet26 — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 11:44:31 +0000

One conventional thing I’d like to give up in society is cell phones. It would benefit mental health, help you reconnect with nature and family. I feel like families would be much more connected without everyone being distracted by phones all the time. It would make communication much harder; you'd be completely out of the loop on everything.

I don’t think I could give up my phone in the life I live because it would just be unrealistic. I would lose my friendships and relationships, and would be discluded and feel very out of place. Society relies way too much on phones to go without one and live a normal life. I would definitely have to go out on my own to be able to go without having a phone. The temptations of what you are missing out on would be too much.

I would be very out of place in society and my relationships without a phone. My family, friends, and boyfriend all are glued to their phones. It would be impossible to keep those relationships stable without being able to communicate with a phone.

Pressure

fmcdonough26 — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 02:06:43 +0000

I want fully to give up the pressure to succeed at everything. I have tried, but it is a hard mindset to let go of. As a young person, I feel like there is all this pressure from society to do the utmost in every subject at school, be involved in a million extra-curriculars and accept any opportunity that will boost your resume. All for what? We are told that is what will get us into a good college, which will in turn secure us a successful career in the future. Instead of focusing on advancing as much as possible in every subject, I would rather follow my passions, improving in areas I actually care about. Erasing the mindset of needing to be the best at everything would allow me to actually be content. I wouldn't feel the burnt out weight of that boring class I am taking just to look good to an admissions office, my volunteer work would be genuine, and I could find a passion for learning. In some ways, I have actually tried to follow in the footsteps of McCandless by rejecting the path to success and creating my own instead. There are so many amazing opportunities I have turned down simply because they don't align with my passions.

I think the hardest part is knowing that some people are disappointed that you don't put all your effort into certain things. When you stop doing things for the sake of others, you lose people along the way. I have several friends that I have become distanced from simply because our interests don't align anymore. The biggest message I have to remind myself of is that I don't need to do anything for the sake of society. Why should I have to sacrifice my passions to be successful?

Into The Wild

edubois26 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:04:51 +0000

I would love it if we could stop comparing ourselves to other people. I mean, I understand we have revolving thoughts about ourselves non-stop. I feel like we would have less anxiety and depression rates if we ended comparing and contrasting our person to one another. The benefits would be more happiness and healthier people. I feel like no matter how hard we try, we wouldn’t be able to give it up. We don’t just compare ourselves to our bodies; it is also money, jobs, family life, and countless other little things. The drawbacks would be that we wouldn’t have any “role models” because with them we compare and contrast to be like our role models. I or anyone could give it up and live in the same setting, but it would just be hard because where we live and where we go to school, there is judgment everywhere. I have previously accepted that everyone is their own person, but we always try to improve ourselves and be better versions. It might be difficult, but if we put our minds to it, we can all be happier if we stop comparing ourselves to one another.

Into the Wild

ofrench27 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:08:16 +0000

I hate social media. I think everything about it is unhealthy and I think every single person on planet Earth would be better off without it. If I could just stop using social media and erase my internet appearance I would. But I can’t.

I mean I could in theory delete my accounts, and erase my media existence. But its not that easy. As a teenager, my entire life is online. My friends, my school, they all exist on the internet. If I were to just erase my appearance, I'd also be making my life alot more difficult. This is why to just disappear, I'd have to do it McCandless style. No human contact, all by myself, me vs me.

If I accomplished getting rid of social media, I truly think my relationships would be affected and not in a positive way. It would be hard to communicate, hard to share thoughts, jokes and ideas. I would always feel left out, always like the oddball of the group.

I guess I relate to McCandless more than I thought because, in different ways, we both find modern life almost corrupting. Him with possessions and me with the media. Maybe we both want to escape the realities we are forced to live with, just in different ways.