We have elected to take a brief, needed break from the exhaustive subject of the orange, “would-be” King, arbitrarily dispensing ego-driven Monarchial decrees with his soft-tipped “Sharpie,” and, for the moment, consider the pleasant subject of the arrival of the pleasant month of May. The “Merry Month of May” (Thomas Dekker, 1572-1632) is singularly delightful: sunshine, emerging daffodils and tulips, scampering woodland critters, newborn pups, warm rain, and kind breezes.
However, May is officially designated as “Mental Health Awareness Month,” and we find ourselves obliged to reprise an alarming subject to which we have frequently made reference.; namely, the recent reports of widespread mental disturbance, depression, and anxiety, particularly observed relative to the young.
We do not profess the adequate competence to discuss those cases having their etiology in matters other than those perceptively societal; yet have consistently maintained that most of such empirically observable health conditions, in our view, are the proximate result of society’s change from identifiable, personal and emotionally rewarding interaction to cold, impersonal, digitalized “smartphones.” We humbly acknowledge the risk that this generalized observation may, initially, be perceived as overly ” reductive.” Nevertheless, we are of the view that this impactful cause has been anecdotally and widely demonstrated.
To avoid misunderstanding, we affirmatively endorse the view that the exponential development of computer prowess has had ubiquitous utility in industry, media, scientific and medical inquiry, in business, and in countless other applications, but is societally and personally neither emotionally satisfactory nor salubrious in place of personal communication, as in person to person, telephone communication or written correspondence. In sum, it is our view that the need for human communication, restricted to the “smartphone,” depersonalizes and isolates the individual. We will elucidate further.
A referential “self-image,” or personal identity, is existentially vital to participation in the societal milieu. The healthy, societally adjusted individual, in the course of his personal interaction with others, relative to his perceived effect on others, and, the nature and effect of their responses to him, in time, develops a referable self-image and a consistent identity, i.e., comes to know himself, His acquired and developed personal identity is the “home office,” or perceived identity from which he speaks and chooses to act. The development of personal identity and self-image is, in large part, the reflective product of personal interaction with others. This requires the recognition of the voice on the telephone, nuanced expression, singular point of view, and other referential qualities that render such interactions personally meaningful and referentially notable. It is our view that our persona, in notable part, is colored by the observed consistency of other persons’ perceptions.
When society chose, for facile convenience, to eschew societally existential personal, familiar, and expressive interaction in exchange for cold digital images, reflected on a small, handheld screen, temporally exchanged at some random, possibly irrelevant time, it sufferred the impersonality of solo conversation, lacking identifiable personal nuance, spontaneity, and emotional expression; thereby, the route to the natural and useful acquisition of persona and identity was sadly and unhealthily eliminated. For the young generation, particularly, not having the personal experience of years of interactive communication, this facile but emotionally harmful “progress” has resulted in personally devastating and unhealthy results.
The curtailment of vitally required developmental, interactive relations took its toll in the myriad reported cases of anxiety and depression, most notably, among the young. Loneliness, feelings of isolation, and lack of the interactive benefits of personal development, of the security of personal identity, and social status.
Numerous essays and reports appearing in the Atlantic and other reputable sources, re that in recent years, adults have been socializing less, having fewer neighborhood backyard barbeques, parties, even marrying later; which we presune to be the by-product or consequence of the modern “benefit” of communication by computer particularly, the use of handheld phones, in place of meaningful social contact.
We do not Pollyannishly expect a return to the previously more healthful forms of personal communication; life seems to instruct the contemplative observer that conveniences, regardless of their observably negative toll, will nevertheless persist. We might, however, recommend more salubrious social get-togethers, town meetings, dances, club activities, backyard barbeques, book clubs, and other social engagements for adults, and more interpersonal contact, team sports, clubs, dances, and considerably less “smartphone” interaction for the young.
-p,
- Title borrowed from a book by David Riesman
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