Keep your private life out of my life

I remember a friend of mine telling me about her experiences living on campus. Her neighbors couldn’t keep their private time in the middle of the night to themselves.

She joked about how she didn’t want a roommate, but these two made it a point to convince her that they should be for 30 minutes (or less if I remember correctly).

On these students’ lists of extracurricular activities: Intramural ultimate frisbee, frat secretary, sex and a part-time job at the gym. I’m not your parent, so I’m not going to tell you what to do with your life, time or genitals.

But can we make the conscious effort to keep our private lives … what’s the word I’m looking for … private? We can lose all of our dignity and morals on the societal scale, but just because the Patriot Act exists for the government doesn’t mean that my friend should have to endure the unnecessary foolishness of her neighbor’s intercourse.

We’ve found a way to make technology the center of our lives and managed to forget what a landline is. Having phone conversations while walking to class, in the library and other places they don’t need to be? Honestly, if that were you studying for an organic chemistry exam would you really want Becky talking to Sue about how Bill and Joe approached her at the club last weekend and they all got phenomenally wasted?

This is partly a rant and partly me just speaking for those who I’ve crossed paths with during my time at UM. I’ve heard too many testimonials for this to be taboo that’s only open at the dinner table, in texts you send your best friend or angry tweets and Facebook status updates. There are many different things we can find that need correction, but these are the most I’ve ever heard about so now was the time to address it.

Care about more than just yourself, because you may keep yourself from being pointed out in opinion pieces in your school’s newspaper. You say that your private life is none of my business, but all I’m trying to do is keep it that way.

We better ourselves, we better each other.

Jacquelynn Sims is a senior majoring in motion pictures and sport administration.