Franzen’s concept of liking and loving something or someone is a very foreign idea to me. However I do agree with it. The idea of liking something has been cheapened by the use of technology and social media to the point where a simple double tap or click on a screen constitutes a like. Everyone has the odd desire to be liked, which creates a nation of shallow minded, manipulative, narcissists. Franzen’s concept of love is oddly appealing. The idea that everything you are, everything you’ve experienced, the very essence of your being, being exposed to another is pure and terrifying at the same time. My own relationship with technology does and doesn’t concern me at the same time. It doesn’t concern me because unlike many people my age, I keep my life very private. There is little to no information or pictures of my life on social media. In this way I don’t end up pandering to anyone, needing to be liked. At the same time my relationship with technology concerns me because I spend more time with my phone and technology than I do people. It’s come to the point where I prefer being left alone with my phone and my music. With Franzen’s idea of love in mind, I don’t think anyone truly loves anything. People can be passionate, people can like something but to truly love something, to know it inside and out and still care for it is something rare that I doubt most people would be willing to do. Now people are all about the casual flings and likes and no one focuses on love, which in my opinion just forces us to rely more and more on technology as the ways people connect just whittle away while we become more connected with the world.
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