Liking is for Cowards but it is Where I Lived, and What I Lived For that is the question!

In Jonathan Franzen's article "Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts" he touches on many hidden meanings that we need to be sure to pick up on in our readings upon our realizations of technology and our own basic lives.  He begins to his audience about the old Blackberry Pearl and replacing it with a new device, referring to it as if it is a person.  He mentions many human-related aspects such as: trust issues, accountability issues, compatibility issues as well as sanity issues.  All of these are important aspects to living life with people.  Ironically though, as he digs further into his writings he begins to and talks about FaceBook and other technologies that allow us to give to us instantly and asks us for nothing.  This become perplexing because he then goes on to talk about being likable and realizing although technology can be an extension of ourselves , however, we still may feel contempt for people who like us because it may not be for the very reasons of whom we really are. 

In the New York Times article written by Jonathan Franzen he talks about how great technology is for us and how it becomes adept at creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship; "gives everything, instantly, and make us feel powerful".  He uses examples of how we want to be likeable and create cool personas who aren't really who we are.  That in reality we don't want to reveal our true selves because we fear rejection and it would be just too painful.  It is funny because we all desire to be liked and censor ourselves on a daily basis to everything we do or say involving any Social Media platforms. To "be liked" on Facebook, every post, every picture you share we want to see "likes" because it deems us a relevant and well sought after.  But, in this quest we have to be "liked", we may not be true to who we really are and feel a sense of despair because people don't really like us for  we realize people don't like us for who we really truly are.  Franzen is talking about being true to yourself and feeling the pain.  The fear of rejection is a a real true human feeling and shouldn't be avoided because it really means you are living.  All this technology stuff just give us an instant gratification to our immediate needs and likability, however, long term it doesn't satisfy our ultimate goal in being happy with who we are.  It is being fake or being real, that is our choice.  Are we a person? Or a result of a consumer-related product?   

Comparing Jonathan Franzen's article to Thoreau's "Where I Lived, and What I Lived for" is very interesting.  Thoreau's essay was written back in 1854, whereas Franzen's was written recently in 2011.  However, tThe same underlying message lies in both of them which is the need for people to be liked.  "Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundless truths, while reality is fabulous".  Thoreau is talking about people being something they aren't.  In Franzen's article he states, "There is no such thing as a person whose real self you like every particle of.  This is why a world of liking is ultimately a lite.  But there is such a thing as a person whose real self you love every particle of.  And this is why love is such an existential threat to the techno-consumerist order, it exposes the lie." Both of these men in their own times came to a similar conclusion, being someone you're not is not who we are, however, who we are make us the person we want to be.  We get upset even if we pretend to be someone we aren't because the people that we meet do not know the difference, they see and accept the persona, but not the real person.  Jonathan Frazen's article conveyed the message of Technology and the likability factor.  Henry David Thoreau was talking about building the railroad, the faster pace of the cities, and then living in the country  Their journeys, even though they appeared different, came to the same conclusion.  An interesting paradox considering they were written 150 years apart.  It shows us the human race's basic instincts and observations never really change, even if the technologies and advances do.  Today's technology is compared to the railroad's building back in the 1800s.  The railroad was a sign of change back then to what technologies are taking place now.  Thoreau's comment, "We do not ride the railroad; it rides upon us." is a direct correlation to that of Franzen talking about the "Telos of Techne" to replace our natural world.  Interesting but yet both equally as powerful.