A soul-enriching Memorial Day weekend, with minimal use of technology for anything but checking the weather, has reminded me that the Internet and Life are not the same thing.
And then I listened to this – a phenomenal diatribe on the incongruity of love and ‘being liked’, on the disjoint between technological narcissism and real experience, from the brilliant Jonathan Franzen speaking at a Kenyon College Commencement.
'Liking' is not loving.
Here is an excerpt – but listen to the full thing when you have some time for contemplation.
‘A related phenomenon is the transformation, courtesy of Facebook, of the verb ‘to like’ from a state of mind to an action that you perform with your computer mouse, from a feeling to an assertion of consumer choice. And liking, in general, is commercial culture’s substitute for loving. The striking thing about all consumer products — and none more so than electronic devices and applications — is that they’re designed to be immensely likable. This is, in fact, the definition of a consumer product, in contrast to the product that is simply itself and whose makers aren’t fixated on your liking it. (I’m thinking here of jet engines, laboratory equipment, serious art and literature.)
But if you consider this in human terms, and you imagine a person defined by a desperation to be liked, what do you see? You see a person without integrity, without a center. In more pathological cases, you see a narcissist — a person who can’t tolerate the tarnishing of his or her self-image that not being liked represents, and who therefore either withdraws from human contact or goes to extreme, integrity-sacrificing lengths to be likable.”
http://www.kenyon.edu/x57433.xml
Not only are ‘liking’ and loving not the same thing – is there a danger that technology can turn us into a machine for ‘liking’ and being ‘liked’ – and forgetting to experience the real thing…or worse, becoming too afraid of rejection to even give it a try?
ADDITION: The related New York Times op-ed is also great if you don’t have time to listen to the full thing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29franzen.html
Follow @matthewadamhook
So I can’t like this then?… Even though I do! You might like Brene Brown’s ‘Gifts of Imperfection’, some really interesting human stuff in it about connection. x
You csn ‘like’ it if you like, but sharing it is always better.
Thanks for the recommendation, I will check it out. I LOVE imperfection!