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Me, MySpace, and iPod
JAC Issue #50
by
Lieutenant Steven Bussey
Me, MYSpace,
and IPod: Tales of a Culture Stuck in the Mirror Stage of
Development and Its Moral Implications
See Steven's original internet blog posting, complete with
images at:
http://stevebussey.blogspot.com/2007/06/me-myspace-and-ipod-tales-of-culture.html
"Self-help
is no help at all. Self-Sacrifice is the way, my way, to
saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get
everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you
ever trade your soul for?"
Mark 8:36f. (MSG)
"The seed of vanity is too deeply sewn in their young
hearts for me to dare to cultivate it."
Catherine Booth (on fashion and parenting) in Catherine
Booth: A Sketch by Mildred Duff
INTRODUCTION
A few weeks ago I came across the book, Generation Me by
sociologist Jean Twenge. In it, she explores the psyche and
culture of the newest generation to have come-of-age, what
some have referred to as millennials (also generation-y, net-gen,
screenagers, myspace generation, etc. etc. ad nauseum). I
bought this book because of its' subtitle: "Why today's young
Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled - and more
miserable than ever before."
What I find interesting about this book is its' recognition of
a growing narcissism in today's culture. What Twenge is
discussing in her book is manifesting itself in several of our
societies traditional institutions: family, school, the
workplace... even the pews of our local churches! As a result,
her research is something which is uncomfortable, but
necessary to engage if we are going to know how to effectively
engage in ministry to today's youth.
After working with several teens and young adults over the
past ten years and recognizing a shift taking place marked by
a rapid growth in a mindset of entitlement, I began searching
for resources to help me understand this growing trend.
Besides Twenge and a few other social theorists, I didn't find
much. As a result, I have decided to write this paper which I
have entitled, "Me, MySpace, and IPod: Tales of a Culture
Stuck in the Mirror Stage of Development and its Moral
Implications." In this paper, I propose that we are currently
living in a culture that has mass-marketed the idolization of
self. We have created a series of technologies that has
inundated us with media mirrors that fuel what I call
"hyper-narcissism." Unfortunately, this image has been bought
and consumed on a mass-scale. In many ways, we could say that
our society - Christian and non-Christian alike - have "drunk
the Kool-Aid" and joined the cult!
THE MEDIUM IS MASSAGING THE ILLUSION
It seems as though so many youth today are living in a fantasy
world - a simulacrum of self-absorption - an illusionary world
which we are convinced is real. As the French sociologist,
Jean Baudrillard satirically proclaims: "Objects in mirror are
closer than they appear!" (Baudrillard, America; 1) Youth
sojourn in today's world convinced that they are all that
exists because they are living in a consumer economy that
caters to their every whim - whether this be voting for your
latest music idol, personally reviewing movies, choosing the
latest sandwich at fast-food chains, or participating in
hand-crafted religious worship experiences. Everywhere youth
go they are saturated with one message: "we are here to serve
you."
Time Magazine even picked up on this at the end of 2006 when
their person of the year ended up being ourselves. On the
cover is a computer with the word, "You." A quick viewing of
the article identifies how we are living in an age where
everyone has a "voice" in our society. I would argue that this
is a good thing, but when everyone is expressing their voice
on any and every issue... at what point does this all simply
become noise? When all that a person does is speak their
opinion, at what point do they begin to listen to the opinion
of others?
We live in a culture where iPods are marketed as blank
canvases where a person paints self-portraits via music and
media which provide a window to their soul. Even the human
body has become a canvas to communicate self through tattoos
and piercings. As the late Marshall McLuhan once said, "the
medium is the message." The medium (whether flesh or machine)
projects to the world and back to us who we think we are -
psychologically and socially. He goes on to suggest later in
life that the medium is also the massage - that it coaxes us
to live with the psychological and social repurcussions that
come with a new form of technology (McLuhan, The medium is the
massage). We have been 'massaged' into believing in the very
marketable idea that our iPod gigabytes contain (Pod) the
essence of self (I)!
MAGIC MIRROR - OFF THE WALL DEVELOPMENT
This has fueled this self-absorbed trend. Think about it:
MY-Space, YOU-Tube, FACE-book, Second LIFE... These are some
of the most popular socal networking sites on the planet. At
what point do we begin to see this as a giant golden calf -
the creation and idolization of self?
The Queen from our popular myth, Snow White articulates the
heartbeat of our culture today when she states: "Magic Mirror,
on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" Unfortunately the
Queen lived in the protective cloisters of her palace where
people would tell her all that she wants to hear. When the
mirror doesn't tell her what she presupposes is true, she
competetively sidelines morality to champion self - she
literally wants the heart of her fairest competition. Why?
Because the ultimate response that she wants to hear from her
magical technology that she is the fairest of them all. Does
this sound like a familiar syndrome we enounter in today's
culture? In what ways does our hyper-narcissism undermine the
moral fibers of our being? In what ways does this
self-consumption convince us that we are the only god we need?
In Dante's Divine Comedy, he outlines seven deadly sins and
recognizes narcissism or vanity as the original and most
deadly of sins. He defines it as "love of self perverted to
hatred and contempt for one's neighbor." Dante illustrates
this with the image of a bourgeois woman admiring herself in a
mirror held by the devil - whom he suggests is no less than
Lucifer himself - assigned to fuel vanity and pride.
Another illustration of this radical form of ethical egoism is
the Greek myth of Narcissus. This was the story of a young man
who one day took a drink from a river only to see what he was
convinced was ultimate beauty (naturally... himself!). He
gazed into the river and was so consumed by the mirroring of
his own self-reflection that it eventually destroyed him. It
is no coincidence that the definition of narcissism is
"inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love;
vanity."
In 1984, the MIT scholar, Sherry Turkle wrote an interesting
book entitled, The Second Self. She was studying the
relationship of children to technology. She uses the mythic
story of Narcissus and links it to the work of French
psychologist Jacques Lacan who speaks of the "mirror stage" of
development. She states, "Mirrors, literal and metaphorical,
play an important role in human development. In literature,
music, visual art, or computer programming, they allow us to
see ourselves from the outside, and to objectify aspects of
ourselves we have perceived only from within" (Turkle, The
Second Self; 155).
Turkle proposes that our constructed technologies serve as a
conduit for identity development: "But of the computer we ask
more. We ask not just about where we stand in nature, but
about where we stand in the world of artifact. We search for a
link between who we are and what we have made, between who we
are and what we might create, between who we are and what,
through out intimacy with our own creations, we might become"
(Turkle, The Second Self; 12). In many ways, there is a direct
relationship between who this generation understands "ME" to
be, and what our iPods and MySpaces reflect back to us. At
what point though, do we begin to ask whether this generation
is developmentally stuck in an infantile stage of development?
IDENTITY CRISIS: WHO MIMICS WHOM?
Challenges emerge when identity is in a continual entropic
(i.e., changing) state. In today's culture, some propose that
one's identity is composed of multiple possible selves (see
Markus & Nurius, "Possible Selves" American Psychologist,
1986). Kenneth Gergen suggests that "...as we become
increasingly conjoined with our social surroundings, we come
to reflect those surroundings. There is a populating of the
self, reflecting the infusion of partial identities through
social saturation. And there is the onset of a multiphrenic
condition, in which one begins to experience the vertigo of
unlimited multiplicity" (Gergen, The Saturated Self; 49).
Gergen therefore suggests that people eventually end up not
really knowing who they are at all. As Oscar Wilde said, "Life
imitates art far more than art imitates life." In other words,
when all that we do is interact with the world in a
narcissistic way, not only do we become blind to others, but
we also really begin to become confused about who we are,
which eventually leads to becoming anything, everything... and
eventually nothing. Therefore, hyper-narcissism does not fuel
individuality, rather the individual simply becomes a mimic of
all that surrounds them.
If you go back and look at the iPod campaign from a couple of
years ago, you will notice how the individuals are colored
black (shadowed), the iPod is white (like a canvas) and the
backdrop is a multiplicity of colors. In fact, many campaigns
would combine several of these images together in a way
reminicent to Andy Warhol's depiction of the silk screened
Mickey Mouse. Warhol was the king of pop - producing
mass-produced art.
I would like to suggest that iPod's promotional campaign about
individuality actually is a campaign for mass-concession -
willing consent to popular culture. At what point does this
move from a healthy means to navigate through the social
spheres of everyday life to something that becomes hegemonic
and dangerously self-contradictory? I fear that we might be
crossing that line in today's culture... and that the Church
is not standing as a prophetic voice, but rather the champion
salesman! (See my article Lolli-pop Spirituality: Why Youth
Are Crashing From Sugar-Coated Christianity.)
One could easily propose that our culture is in a state of
identity crisis. It is rather ironic that the Socratic mandate
to "know thyself" has become so difficult in the hall of
mirrors that we live in today. Amusement parks historically
have had halls of mirrors where people are invited to enter
into a labyrinth of optically reflective materials. These
rooms are intended to stretch and distort people's reflections
of self... and often leave people either laughing or crying as
they get lost in their journey through the maze. I wonder
whether this is an apt metaphor for where we find ourselves in
today's culture? Could it be that the distorted mirrors which
surround us have acutally confused our journey to understand
who we are? These distortions particularly become deceptive
when we begin to try to understand who we are in Chirst.
When a person becomes convinced that they are all that exists,
it is no surprise that a spirit of entitlement eventually
ensues. People who are stuck in the infantile mirror-phase of
development will obviously often resort to acting spoiled.
It's no surprise that one of the most popular dolls sold to
tween girls these days are called "Bratz." Jean Twenge's book
picks up on this. She says, "Many young people also display
entitlement, a facet of narcissism that involves believing
that you deserve and are entitled to more than others... The
rise in narcissism has very deep roots. It's not just that we
feel better about ourselves, but that we even think to ask the
question. We fixate on self-esteem, and unthinkably build
narcissism, because we believe that the needs of the
individual are paramount. This will stay with us even if
self-esteem programs end up in the dustbin of history..." (Twenge,
Generation Me; 70f.). Journalist Martha Irvine referred to
today's youth as the "Entitlement Generation." Beverly
Smallwood, exploring the dangers of our culture's sense of
entitlement states that, "A dangerous cancer is eating away at
the soul of modern society, causing distress in our homes and
workplaces alike. What is it, and what is the antidote?" It
seems that our society simply proposes solutions that add fuel
to the fire - more self-esteem classes, therapy sessions where
people reflection on Maslowian 'self-actualization' ...even
popular films recognize the problem but lack solutions.
ABOUT FACE: THE TRUTH ABOUT NARCISSISM
This begs me to ask the hard, but important question: what are
the moral and theological consequences of this radical form of
egotistic practice? How does this effect how we live in this
world, what we value, what we pursue? What are the
repurcussions of self-absorption (or self-love) in
relationship of oneself to the other (particularly the
marginal other)... or more importantly, the relationship of
humanity to God?
I am always encouraged by the work of C.S. Lewis. Regarding
his book, Till We Have Faces, he uses a retelling of the
ancient greek mythlogical tale of Cupid and Psyche to address
distorted and true beauty, justice and love. Lewis uses this
relationship as a metaphor for the relationship of self to
God: "The idea was that a human being must become real before
it can expect to receive any message from the superhuman; that
is, it must be speaking with its voice (not borrowed voices),
expressing its actual desires (not what it imagines it
desires), being for good or ill itself, not any mask, veil, or
persona" (CS Lewis in a letter to Dorothy Conybeare, 1964).
As long as we continue to buy into the idea of burying
ourselves in our own process of creating things in our image
we will continue to distance ourselves from our true Creator
in whose image we have been made (Genesis 1:27; 2 Corinthians
3:18). Just looking at the story of the Tower of Babel jumps
out as a powerful reminder of what happens when we try to
build things which deify self (Genesis 11). When we pursue
such a goal, it will inevitably result in confusion, divison
and then eventual destruction of what we create, those with
whom we are in community, and eventually ourselves.
There is great potential for selfless, Christ-like altruism in
today's culture. Encountering God and loving others
unconditionally, I would argue, provides the proper framework
within which to understand the deep and profound question,
"Who am I?" Jesus says, "If your first concern is to look
after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget
about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and
me" (Matthew 10:39 MSG).
I am not proposing that everyone destroy their iPods or never
utilize a social networking site. I am rather suggesting that
we keep things in perspective - that we don't get lost in the
labyrinth of our mirror-driven technoculture. As Catherine
Booth understood so aptly in the 19th Century, what we wear
directly interacts with who we are. This is why she was set to
ensure that she not cultivate vanity in the hearts of her
children by pursuing simplicity in the clothes they wore (see
the quote at the beginning of this paper).
My prayer is that we recognize that our mirrors can be
strongholds... and that the destruction of the hold these
mirrors have on us will not bring about seven years of bad
luck - as the traditional legend goes, but rather a freedom
from the bondage that has held this generation in its grip for
way too long.
"Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we
wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather
than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this
one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom,
where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for."
Elisabeth Elliot Keep a Quiet Heart
What are your thoughts? I would love to interact with others
who have also been wrestling with this issue.
WORKS CITED
Baudrillard, J. (1989). America. Verso.
Bussey, S. (2006). Lolli-pop spirituality: Why youth are
crashing from sugar-coated christianity. Journal of Aggressive
Christianity. 46, p.21. http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_046.pdf
(Downloaded: June, 2006).
Dante Alighieri. (2003). The divine comedy. (trans. John
Ciardi) NAL Trade.
Duff, M. (2004). Catherine Booth: A sketch. London: Kessinger
Publishing
Elliot, Elisabeth. (2004). Keep a quiet heart. Revell.
Gergen, K.J. (1991). The saturated self: Dillemmas of identity
in contemporary life. USA: Basic Books.
Grossman, L. (2006). Time's person of the year: You. Time
Magazine. December 13, 2006. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html
(Downloaded: June, 2006).
Irvine, M. (2005). The young labelled entitlement generation.
Free Republic. June 27, 2005. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1431497/posts.
(Downloaded: June, 2007).
Lewis, C.S. (1980). Till we have faces. Harvest Books.
McLuhan, M. & Fiore, Q. (2005). The medium is the massage.
Ginko Press.
Smallwood, B. (2007). Sense of entitlement. http://www.sideroad.com/Personal_Development/sense-of-entitlement.html
(Downloaded: June, 2007).
Smith, C.B. (1964). Letters to a Sister from Rose Macaulay
(1964) 261; also at Hooper, Companion (see IX) 252]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_We_Have_Faces.
(Downloaded: June, 2007).
Turkle, S. (1984). The second self: Computers and the human
spirit. New York: Touchstone.
Twenge, J.M. (2006). Generation me: Why today's young
Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled - and more
miserable than ever before. New York: Free Press.
Labels: C.S. Lewis, entitlement, generational theory, media
culture, youth culture
posted by Steve Bussey at 9:26 AM, Friday, June 29, 2007
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