In Being and Nothingness, Sartre demonstrates
how the look is objectifying, for it reduces my conscience, that lives
for-itself by finding its own essence and meaning, into an object that lives
in-itself, totally controllable by other. “Suddenly an object has appeared which has
stolen the world from me” Sartre wrote.
Indeed, when one encounters another conscience that also lives for
it-self, one loose one’s illusion of being the centre of the Universe.
Futhermore,
as the other is looking at me, s/he is breaking the intimacy I’m sharing with
myself. S/he judges me, according to laws, rules, morality or expectations that
I’m fulfilling or not. The look of other makes me becoming aware of myself,
feeling ashamed or proud because I see myself in their eyes.
As I read
this text, I couldn’t stop thinking about how those two ideas – the look that
objectifies me and makes me aware of myself – apply to the social medias we are
using everyday : Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or Tumblr, apps that
allows us to communicate and stay in touch with our friends and acquaintances
at all time. Really, what would have Sartre thought about social networks and
how his philosophical views on the Look can teach us a few things about
Facebook?
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE
In No Exit, we are to read one of Sartre’s
most famous claim “Hell is other people”.
What he means by that is not that every
social relationship is doomed to be a disaster, but that it is not the presence
of the other that is troubling, only the image that they give one to see of
oneself. The other is studying me with the assistance of another conscience,
another experience, another perception than my own. Therefore, the other will come
to another conclusion about me and I might not find myself in the description
s/he will do then.
For
example, in No Exit, the relation
between Garcin and Estelle makes Estelle suffer. But it is not because of the
mere existence of Garcin that she suffers, but how he refuses to acknowledge
her beauty, thus giving a description of her that does not match the one she
believes to be true.
With social
networks, others are always here. They are invading our bedrooms and kitchen at
any hour of the days and nights. We do not experience such a thing as “alone
time” anymore, thanks to smartphone. Even when we are lying in bed or taking a
shower, the others are there, on the nightstand or perched on the sink. Our phone
is always vribrating because of texts, facebook messages, new tweet, comments
or Instagram updates.
In a way,
we are like Truman in The Truman Show:
we are always watched and, hence, judged by the others. There is no rest from
it. Of course, the main difference between Truman and ourselves, is that we are
aware of the situation. We are not deceived. But that does not mean judgment
become easier to bear.
Have you
ever realised how many people exchange pictures of their meals or children on
Snapchat and Instagram? They are documenting aspects of their life that others
rarely got to see before and put them on display for the likes of the others–
actual, materialised likes actually, almost common to any social medias. If I
post a video on Youtube where I tell about my holidays, people might up or down
vote me, based on the content but also the way I speak or dress. Some might
leave mean comments, writing I am not interesting or a poor storyteller.
Nothing
escape the other’s look and opinion nowadays and when we reflect upon
ourselves, we can’t unknow those judgments about how we eat, drink, dress and
spend our time. I will never forget that some believe I am not good at telling
stories: I can’t un-be this self, regardless of how inaccurate I might think it
is.
ONE IS NOT WHAT ONE IS
Social
medias always advertise how they allow you to share “your true self” with your
friends and family. Obviously, they are wrong, for using those networks is
assuming yet another part. We were students, siblings, children, lovers, and
friends and now we get to “be” the internet users. We use social medias to put
on a show, displaying jokes, pictures, videos, quotes and songs we carefully
picked to construct a precise and controlled image of ourselves. Perhaps one
believes this image one produces to be the authentic one. Estelle would surely
post selfies all the time to display her gorgeous self.
It is
possible too that one would rather embellishes the reality: are you funnier
online, or cynical? Do you only share the good music you listen to, praying
that nobody will ever discover how much you like the Backstreet Boys? Are you
spending hours touching up your profile picture? That’s it. You are once again
experimenting bad faith: you are, in a way, what you are online – surely you do
appreciate the inspirational quotes you are constantly posting on Twitter or
the hipsterish pictures you reblog on Tumbr. But you are also what you are not online
(The Backstreet boys lover) and finally you are not what you are online – you don’t
always have snarky comebacks, you don’t declaim poems or flirt with everyone in
real life.
Have you
ever seen your best friend freaking out because you post that ugly selfie of
him? Has anyone ever begged you to suppress that kind of photo before anyone
can sees it? They are ashamed of it because it means letting others see this
side of them, a side they carefully online. The issue is the minute the others
will see the picture, they can never un-be their ugly self, as I can never
un-be my poor storyteller self. Those posts, as our actions in real life,
define ourselves: for others, we become the one that is able to be bad looking,
the one that loves Backstreet Boys or the one you can’t ask stories from.
 |
| He, for example, can't never un-be the Panda that hates babies |
It is a
scary perspective. I’m defined by every single post I write, every single
picture I am into and every piece of content I share. Plus, as I said earlier,
others are now everywhere with us. The boundaries are becoming thinner and thinner.
With time, there is little, almost nothing to hide away. Perhaps, in the longer
run, one would be what one is online, and only that, because we will be unable
to deceiving others or ourselves anymore.
Obviously,
Sartre would have found internet and social medias fascinating and he would
have run an existentialist tumblr with obscure references and inside jokes and
an Instagram filled of black berets, Deux Magots’s expensive coffees,
Saint-Germain at night and portraits of his ever-so-famous friends. I guess he would have also tried to find a way
to live an authentic life online too, something most of us still struggle to
do. What do you think he would have advice? Do you think it is possible to live
an authentic life online? Can we escape the bad faith that is so inherent of
social medias?
Hi Cécile !
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post which is really interesting and which I think sums up pretty well the futility of social medias.
I confess sometimes I get scared when I see how much Facebook knows about me. The social media knows what I like, who I see and when, where I am, what I search on the internet in order to show publicity for these precise items…
But this vision of our lives is very incomplete. Nevertheless, the Facebook page is what we fist look at to forge ourselves an opinion on someone we barely know and we just met during the day.
And I would go even further, saying that our profile on any social media can really affect our relationship with someone in person. For instance, if someone is behaving in an annoying mode on Facebook, we might reconsider our friendship with this person. (And I have witnessed that but at a group scale). In this case, the Internet has replaced our real life as we rely on it to know the person.
To answer to your questions, I think Sartre would advice us to stay away from the social media and live a life with our real acquaintances, learning to know them in a relationship based on truth and trust. Indeed, a profile on a social media can never show your life authentically no matter how many picture and status you publish on yourself. And as a consequence, I think it is impossible to escape the bad faith in social media.
But, we should not blame the social medias for the futility of our lives. Social medias are increasing our desire to be seen in a good way by as many people as we can, but I think they are just reflecting our society, as it is impossible to escape from bad faith in real life. Social media is not a fictional life it is life. The only thing that changes is that it shows us the futility of our lives, a characteristic indivisible from life itself.
Therefore, social media not only misrepresents our lives, but it also shows us the futility of our life whatsoever.
The proliferation of social media was the first thing that came to mind when reading Being and Nothingness, with every new social media account we begin, we exponentially increase the number of "looks" objectifying us, and in turn increase our own self-consciousness regarding how we are perceived.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Agathe, Sartre would most likely advise us to abstain from social media, and in our day, it's almost a mark of "better than thou" to not have a Facebook or Instagram. There's no way to avoid Bad Faith, and by willingly accepting the Terms & Conditions of your New Social Media Account, you are willingly accepting to be objectified and to increase your levels of inauthenticity.
Also, Agathe, interesting point about how social media only exposes us to our life's futility, rather than creating it. I am not sure if I agree. I think most people using Instagram, for example, to broadcast their Sunday brunch don't see it as an expression of futility, but rather of purpose. Or to prove that they are eating well/have friends/have 20 euros to spend on 2 eggs. And to a cynical philosopher such as our whole class, this indeed would be a display of futility. But to that one person, it had purpose. And call me an optimist/delusional, but if that one post with its 11 likes ('cause that's when you no longer see the names and therefore you look popular!!!!!) makes that Sunday bruncher feel better about themselves even for a moment, then I don't think its entirely futile.
-Sasha G
In your otherwise interesting post I think we can dismiss the future vision you put forward at the end: “Perhaps, in the longer run, one would be what one is online, and only that, because we will be unable to deceiving others or ourselves anymore.”
ReplyDeleteI think that “One would be, what one is online” is a logical contradiction as it contains a dualism of two distinct entities, which cannot melt into one entity. If one is equal what one is online, this would mean that it is the same thing, this tautology is impossible.
The online self is physical and can therefore only be a depiction of an objectified version of the self and thus cannot contain the subjective self. Or do you believe it would be able to contain our subjectivity?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi guys ! Sorry I didn't answer sooner :)
ReplyDeleteI will try to respond to everything :
AGATHE > I obviously agree with your idea that our online profiles only a part of us but the way you present it make it look like we have no control upon it. For example, your friend that annoys you online, well he chooses to be annoying - at least he chooses to act like he does, perhaps he doesn't realize he is annoying ahaha. Social medias are tools, they don't have power over the way you decide to use it. So if you use it to live an unauthentic life, it is not the fault of your Facebook profile, you know ?
As for the rest of your comment, I don't think our life are futile actually ! Yes, we are pretty useless, regarding to the global world, the universe. Our life doesn't have a purpose on the largest scale, but it is not futile. Do you think your life is futile ? You find meaning in your life daily, in the small things perhaps - in your family, studies, hobbies, friends or lover. To describe our lives as futile, I think, is to look upon them with an exterior look, isn't it ? You can describe someone's else existence as futile but I never have I heard someone describe his/her life in such terms.
SASHA > Hi ! I totally agree with the point you're making with the brunch example !
Otherwise, I do not concur your views upon the social media and the bad faith. As I wrote higher in my answer to Agathe, I believe social medias to be tools, nothing much. I don't think Facebook increase the unathenticity of your life or the amount of bad faith it contains. Sure, you are willing to be objectified, but as you are everytime you step out of your house and you let other people look at you - objectified here only meaning to let people integrate you to their environnement and to let them judge you, nothing sexual really.
As a matter of fact, you can also accept that bad faith is inherent to human existence and try to live a more authentic life online - for example, you could post your Backstreet boys jam on Twitter ahaha ;) You do you, actually, and it's the difference between people that influct on their use of social medias. Facebook has no impact in itself on your decision. Actually, it's only giving you a choice : will you be authentic or not ? That's it. You're free, I remind you, so you are the one to blame in the end ahaha !
MIKKEL > Yes, sorry, I wasn't clear enough on that point. What I meant in : “Perhaps, in the longer run, one would be what one is online, and only that, because we will be unable to deceiving others or ourselves anymore.” is that I find it harder and harder to hide your 'bad side' on Internet - I can't really explain why but there are now EVERYWHERE so being vigilant all the time is super tiring and difficult so you let some ugly selfies or typos slip from time to time. And I was just thinking : what if one day we can't hide anything anymore.
For example, let's imagine I am an idiot and I have all my friends, my teachers, my parents and my activits partners in my "friend list" on Facebook, I don't put restrictions on what one groupe might see and the other can't, so everyone see everything I post. My teachers will have access to the pictures of my wicked Saturday night, my parents will read my ramblings about how I love this super hot actor/actress, my friends will see my feminist articles ... Why is it mortifying ? Well, it is mortifying because my teacher, friends, parents then get to see me outside of my usual part they see me in (friend, student or daughter.)and they will discover all the other sides I usually try to hide. That doesn't me all my selves are going to melt in one entity. But all my acquaintances will get to see all my parts, I couldn't maintain the illusion anymore. So, in a way, one will be what one is, because one doesn't have any other choice. Am I making any sense ?
First of all, I really liked you post most of all because while I read it I thought the same thing !
ReplyDeleteOne can either laugh or cry about people living through the media. It seems that social networks have become not a media where we express ourselves but actually the media our own life.
People nowadays take photos of things or moments that do not actually feel like doing just because they have the desire or more likely necessity to do so in order to uploaded to facebook of instagram as quick as they can. We have become slaves of media, internet and others.
It actually sad how some peoples self-esteem is based on the quantity of likes that they get on a photo or on the way that they look in a picture, or even on the amount of friends that they have on fb, intagram, etc.
We have become objects, products. And it is us that have consumed them…so as a result we have made even more of this products and they have been selling even mire of this crappy kind of existence.
I really liked your post..it made me think on this path