Why technology may be killing your soul and ability to think freely. | Art by Robert The
In her 1993 book New Maladies of the Soul, philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva wrote about how the psychological ailments she found in her patients differed from those uncovered by Freud a hundred years previously. In particular she noted: “Today’s men and women – who are stress-ridden and eager to achieve, to spend money, have fun, and die – dispense with the representation of their experience that we call psychic life… We have neither the time nor the space needed to create a soul for ourselves, and the mere hint of such activity seems frivolous and ill-advised.” (p.7) Where Freud had found people with complex entanglements in their psyches, Kristeva discovers people who barely have any interior life at all: their inner worlds are impoverished and nearly empty. In an interview at the time of her book’s publication, Kristeva elaborated on this theme:
“I believe that the new maladies I discuss are maladies of civilization. Western civilization has always revered the richness of inner life… What will happen to Western society if this psychic space finds neither the time nor the space to grow?… Those who live without a psychic space are quickly subject to exhaustion, relationship difficulties, and extreme frustration.” (Kristeva Interviews, p.86)
When Kristeva made her remarks in 1993, mobile phones had barely begun their spread to ubiquitousness, so the phones are not the initial cause of this impoverishment; but I believe they have helped to exacerbate it. With no inner resources, the need to constantly connect to others becomes an imperative addiction. Individual contemplation is replaced by a continuous exchange of opinions with others. The result is a homogenization, rather than a diversification, of thought.
The above quote comes from Peter Benson’s article over at Philosophy Now; It’s a great read. Benson discusses one of my favorite thinkers, Marchall McLuhan, and dives into McLuhan’s theories on the Electronic Age and it’s potential to increase our proclivity for conformed group thinking over individualistic free thinking. Fascinating stuff.
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Mixed media piece above by Robert The
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