To love something means to be willing to surrender parts of yourself, to feel empathy and identity with this person misery and triumph. But liking something doesn’t allow you to expose yourself, and only reveals the likable surface that you have created. I agree with how Franzen describes, liking something. Although liking something is still somewhat a sincere emotion of fondness; it doesn’t allow a person to confront, reject, nor accept themselves. Love something forces us to choose between running away or having the confidence to embrace it. My relationship with my smartphone or technology is more of a like, rather than a love relationship. To be honest technology and its platforms help feed my narcissistic tendencies. Through the use of technology, apps, and platforms I am able to be the main character. Franzen claims that “our lives look a lot more interesting when they’re filtered,” which is not wrong. Rather than putting myself in a real relation with real people I have become used to this “mirror” relationship with technology. Not having to force myself to become a likable person simply makes life less difficult. Just like Franzen states, “We don’t have to have contempt for its manipulability in the way we might with actual people.” The relationship I have with my smartphones and its apps is something that does not usually concern me. Trying to be perfectly likable isn’t necessarily a health mindset that should be forced upon people. Although my statement might be the opposite of what social platforms and technology actually does; for me it’s an escape from reality. Or even the idea of loving something. A way to shield myself from uncomfortable situations.
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