Ross Douthat: It’s all about narcissism
In Sunday’s New York Times, Ross Douthat reminds us that we have a long history of blaming technological innovation for impending moral decline. Like the rampant decay that was imagined to be inevitable if we rode at 30 mph and used a telegraph.
He adds: “Sometimes, though, the pessimists are right to worry. Technology really does affect character. Cultures do change from era to era, sometimes for the worse. Particular vices can be encouraged by particular innovations, and thrive in the new worlds that they create.”
What moral weakness does our current crop of innovations inspire? Narcissism. He uses Rep. Anthony Wiener’s unfathomably adolescent behavior as an example: “[T]here’s no sign that Weiner was particularly interested in the women he communicated with — not as human beings, certainly, but not really even as lust objects either…his focus was always squarely on himself.” He also talks about what Facebook is doing to us, especially to the generation raised on it as mother’s milk. Read Douthat’s entire argument online HERE. (Photo credit: Paul Keller.)