In the last month or so I've read a few books on the impact of technology, the Internet, and social media. The Shallows gets into the impact on our brains and, really, our humanity. The People's Platform discusses the impact of the Internet on society as a whole, analyzing its impact on existing and developing economic, cultural, and political structures. Both were fascinating reads.
In reflecting and digesting those books the last couple weeks, its made me come back to a post I wrote last year discussing existentialism, "Freedom and Authenticity." Much of that post was my stumbling thoughts about how the great existentialist philosophers, and how an existentialist philosophy that so highly values the ideals of freedom and authenticity, would view our current technological and media state. Reading The Shallows and The People's Platform continues, for me, to inform that discussion.
Last year, I came to the conclusion that despite the embracing of freedom that existentialism demands and the modern media and Internet landscape promise, most existentialists would dislike the ubiquitousness and utilization of modern technology. Over the last year, as I continue to spend time thinking about this dynamic, I think existentialism would demand a rejection.
As that prior post indicated, existentialism is rooted in the concepts of freedom and authenticity. Freedom from ideology - political, social, cultural, religious; to escape those entrapments to achieve true authenticity. Last year, I had the belief that the high usage of social media made achieving those ideals difficult. Now, I tend to lean that such usage makes it impossible.
The Shallows demonstrates the significant impact the technology has on our brains. We lose the ability for deeper focus, deeper reflection. Such impacts isn't even conscious; it happens due to various evolutionary hardwiring in our brains that modern technology takes advantageous of; stripping us not only of the freedom to engage deeply, but more significantly depriving us of the ability to get to the core of authenticity. Who has time for soul-searching when notifications are buzzing your phone with updates from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, emails, and on and on and on?
As The Shallows is to the concept of authenticity, The People's Platform is to the concept of freedom. The new technology, particularly social media, makes freedom near impossible, because it gives us the illusion of freedom. The systems of technology make us believe that we have a choice, but all the same, existing power structures are in control. Further, at least from an existential perspective, freedom is impossible if all options aren't available, aren't possible. Algorithms for social media use are designed to show us only that with which we like, we agree, we interact. Since we may shun disagreement, we never get the tension that allows freedom to act. In addition, we never get the tension needed to help examine, debate, search for our authentic selves.
Simply, we are being stripped of our ability to engage in the search for authenticity, while simultaneously letting the freedom to conduct that search slip away. Honestly, it isn't a pretty picture.
I recently a book on overeating that, while obviously discussing issues in American culture with food, made me think of a tool, so to speak, that could be used to combat the above issues in striving for freedom and authenticity. It comes not from existentialism, but rather is most often associated with Buddhism - mindfulness.
In this tradition, mindfulness is way of paying attention in a particular way; on purpose; in the present moment (a huge oversimplification, but the general idea nonetheless). The difficulty here, I think, is understanding and truly appreciating how fleeting moments are, and thus, how mindfulness is not something engaged in from time to time, but must be present all the time. In a digital world and landscape, the moments are even more fleeting and numerous, making mindfulness that much more difficult to achieve.
But, man if the pursuit of that type of mindfulness doesn't feel necessary. Of paying attention to our usage, to avoid the muscle memory act of scrolling on our smart phones, of clicking on certain bookmarks, all to avoid the trap of losing our ability to be in the present moment because of the inherent distraction of the digital world constantly at our fingertips. To ensure that our each and every engagement in a digital platform or communication is deliberately, conscientiously, mindfully chosen. This feels like how we protect our freedom; how we protect our authenticity.
In Buddhism, mindfulness is part of the Eightfold Path. The ultimate purpose of that Path - the end of suffering. Existentialism, despite being considered so frequently a negative philosophy, is very much based in the same goal. Existentialism holds that ideologies enslave us, and that lack of authenticity is harmful. Intellectual enslavement and damage to our personal uniqueness can sound an awful like suffering. Perhaps, mindfulness is the path through the false veneer created by the digital landscape. The only way to discover authenticity; the only way to be free.
"The origin of the conflict, frustration, and anxiety we experience does not lie in the nature of the world itself but in our distorted conceptions of the world." - Stephen Batchelor
"Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what's the use of seeing?" - Nhat Hanh
"We are our choices." - Jean-Paul Sartre
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