
An interesting polemic addressing a number of converging trends in our all too self-interested yet self-effacing society of the moment, and how Facebook is a nexus (or at least a metaphor of a nexus) for their representation.
Well, that's actually how I read it, rather than what the author says. But still, it is an interesting premise, and a good read. The basic topic? Women who post photos of their children, rather than themselves, as their Facebook profile pictures:
Facebook, of course, traffics in exhibitionism: it is a way of presenting your life, at least those sides of it you cherry pick for the outside world, for show. One’s children are of course an important achievement, and arguably one’s most important achievement, but that doesn’t mean that they are who you are. It could, of course, be argued that the vanity of a younger generation, with their status postings on what kind of tea they are drinking, is a worse kind of narcissism. But this particular form of narcissism, these cherubs trotted out to create a picture of self is to me more disturbing for the truth it tells. The subliminal equation is clear: I am my children. And perhaps for their health and yours and ours, you should be other things as well.This is a topic that fascinates and concerns me, as we head into a time dominated by new social networking paradigms, and a falling of the walls distinguishing our past patterns of acceptable and accepted behaviors.