The Loss of Awe

I hate sometimes these kind of essays - does writing them arrest some phenomenon, some trend, how much impact can an essay (I consider it as a much weak medium compared to other forms of writing) have on anybody's psyche and how long-lasting, even if we assume that it's a well-written thing, and lastly, and most importantly probably, how much of deploring over something does lead us to change ourselves, to change the lens through which we see the world, to change that something which we are talking about. For I hate coffee-table talk, by which I of course mean discussing all the topics under the sun and maybe quite effectively, and just discussing, not bothering to do something.
What I meant by the title of this entry is of course very simple - how much awe does a modern child experience when he sees an elephant for the first time in his life? I don't think too much - too much insensitization has already occurred in most of the cases due to access to television, internet, and the whole gamut of information that comes along, streams along with everything in today's world. Any person has become much more knowledgeable in general, much more aware of himself or herself, of his or her surroundings, of the world in general, compared to a yesteryear's typical person, which of course is quite a desired thing when seen from many aspects. But, on the flip and a terribly flippy side, man is losing some of the key aspects which have shaped man's intelligence uptil now - the sense of mystery, wonder, the imagination itself. Of course, I am probably wrong to generalise, it might not be such a bleak scenario, but for many it is - and I hate to see a person who is becoming slave of something he is supposed to be the master of.
He has already heard about Africa to the last detail and even seen it many times on the wildlife channels; without missing a beat, and in fact munching his burger, he is seeing all the great animals and the great landscapes - what's left? And, even more depressingly, now you know what a place is exactly like - there are no manufacturings in your mind, no improvisations, no leaps of imagination on hearing only some wild stories. No, now there are no wild stories. Everything is bathed in the cold, stern waters of reasoning, of fact, of truth, probably. And hence, you cannot arrive at a greater truth. Only the thrill of novelty remains to greet you now when you actually go to Africa, when you actually see the elephant. Otherwise, everything looks so old, so been-there-done-that, so tired, so diseased. Of course, the scope of this entry is much lesser, but if I may just venture to step further a little, the same thing's been happening with human emotions. And, here, the easy access to books, the well-readedness, is one more culprit. I am talking about the human emotions - before a boy can experience a real sexual thrill on seeing a girl/woman, he has actually got already a simulated thrill many times, since he already knows what is expected of a man and a woman, has seen them do it, and all his expected pleasures itself expect to conform to those rules shown on the TV. Maybe, he will even make love to a woman in all those styles and poses which he has seen or read about, or which he imagines what other people do. The only sad thing is that he might never experience the thrill, he might never get the kick, and thus he might also never know what a woman is all about. Of course, he will have very well-read views, he will be vehement about women's liberation, he will respect the women to society's standards, but the only issue here with me is that all that stuff will be only due to the political correctness of the modern society and his choice to conform to such a society. The innate does not matter, it even doesn't exist, except maybe lurking somewhere and coming out in strange manifestations, and the substance is killed.
And, to be politically correct myself, I apologise if I wrote most of above from a "he's" perspective; I meant no disrespect; and lest the feminists now whoop with joy that the above was something typical of the male gender or something like that, I am quick to point out that women are also not exempt - I would not exempt even a chimpanzee who is being made to watch a TV set for the sake of some obscure, expensive, hi-fi research.