Twice a month, The duty challenges enthusiasts of philosophy and the history of ideas to decipher a topical question based on the theses of an outstanding thinker.
What explains the phenomenon of dependence on social networks – especially among young people, according to recent research? What do we look for on Facebook and Instagram, when we share selfies or photos of our last outings? It is, among other things, the addictive little thrill of “likes”, which we expect with more or less feverishness, depending on our mood and the context. But what to think of this little thrill? What desire for recognition is behind him? What relationship does his quest have with the concern “to be oneself” specific to our modern societies? Is it alienating and pernicious, this little pleasure, or on the contrary the healthy mark of a deeply human need? To reflect on this, it seems useful to me to return to a philosopher who offered a sharp and ambivalent analysis of the human need for recognition, while laying the foundations of the modern ethics of authenticity. I mean – some will have guessed it – Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Self-love and self-esteem
In Rousseau, it all starts with a distinction between two forms of self-awareness and attachment to oneself, self-love and self-love. Self-love, Rousseau tells us, is innate. It is the natural attachment to oneself that every human being feels from birth, which makes him aware of his existence, which leads him to want to live, which makes him consider with pleasure all that favors development and on the contrary makes him consider with pain what threatens him. This self-love is a peaceful feeling, specific to a consciousness which does not pass through others, which is not aware of others or which, at least, does not seek itself in the eyes of others. It is the form of self-awareness specific to toddlers, also specific to adults when they take refuge in solitude to rediscover the simple feeling of existence, far from others, of their looks and their judgments. .
Self-esteem, on the other hand, is the esteem that a person has for himself based on comparison with others and the way others look at him. Self-esteem, in order to hatch, therefore supposes that the child has become aware of the way in which others perceive and evaluate him. This self-esteem, Rousseau tells us, matures slowly during childhood, in the relationship of the little one to his nurse, his parents and his first playmates, but it is during adolescence that it takes on its full extent, as the capacities of empathy and analysis of the young human are refined. The latter perceives and evaluates himself more and more as others do, or in reaction to their gaze on him, hence a desire to please and even to be preferred that takes root in him. His relationship with things is also mediated by the judgment of others. From now on, what is valid is what others value, it is what public opinion values, especially through the phenomenon of fashion. The teenager’s tastes become conformist, his preferences shaped by the group. Even more, the young person compares himself to others in hierarchical terms to know who is the most beautiful, the most popular or the strongest and becomes aware of the judgments that others make at the end of the same comparisons. From then on, the ambition to excel, to surpass others, to be admired animates his heart and leads him to a form of latent conflict with all the potential rivals around him.
The quest for authenticity
Self-love, Rousseau argues, is always good. Self-esteem, on the contrary, is at the root of all our ills. It is he who leads to comparison, who generates hierarchies, who arouses quarrels. It also pushes towards inauthenticity, because each one, wanting to be recognized and if possible preferred, masks his deep personality, puts himself on the stage and in a way plays a role in collecting marks of attention, esteem and affection. . Society becomes a kind of theater, each having always in mind the public before whom he presents himself and on whose judgment his happiness depends. Rousseau therefore considers that the passage from self-love to self-love is to a certain extent a form of degradation. As we grow up, by integrating ourselves more and more into society, by immersing ourselves in the world of intersubjective relationships, we move away from our inner self to allow ourselves to be defined by comparison with others.
This judgment, which may seem final, is nevertheless qualified by Rousseau, because self-esteem is also linked to happy developments in the human psyche, such as the birth of the feeling of love and that of a desire for recognition which Rousseau has felt the sting all his life. Indeed, Rousseau, in multiple passages of his work and even in the ambition which guides his autobiographical writings, shows clearly what happiness there is to feel recognized, even preferred, in particular for what one really is. , when we dare to reveal ourselves to others. In adults, the quest for authenticity, the rediscovery of their inner self, is not intended to be experienced alone. Ultimately, the authentic self longs to be recognized by others. It is the key to a successful romantic relationship, the sesame also of some form of social triumph which is a source of joy. There are therefore pleasures of self-love which are healthy, which are even demanded in the name of self-love, since they lead to fulfillment.
Rousseau and social networks
All that being said, what would Rousseau think of our social networks? It seems to me that he would show towards them the same ambivalence that he shows with regard to self-esteem. It is clear that the very use of social networks places us in the field of self-esteem. We give ourselves there in representation, it was as sincere as possible, in front of an audience of which we hope the approval. The gratification of “likes” strengthens our self-esteem, which is then defined by the way others look at us. We can also develop a certain form of dependence on this gratification, publish anything and everything with the sole aim of always nourishing our public in order, basically, always nourishing our personal esteem, which then passes fundamentally through others. It’s even tempting to think that a post is only worth the number of “likes” it gets, and that our own value still comes from our last post. Having reached this degree of dependence, we always need to be reconfirmed by others in our worth. If necessary, we will sometimes be inauthentic, by sharing moments of happiness that are the exception in a rather gloomy daily life, by posting witticisms on a day when we have a gloomy mood, by staging our beauty to the point of losing all naturalness. Moreover, people who have experienced the alienating side of such dependence and such inauthenticity sometimes take a “break from social networks”, a sort of detoxification, to find in themselves, in the relative the loneliness of their living room, the feeling of existence. Like Rousseau in the Musings, written at the end of his life, where he recounts his solitary walks in nature and the peace of mind he tries to find there.
At the same time, all would not be so dark in the portrait that Rousseau would draw of our social networks. Rousseau ardently desired social recognition and, in his old age, sought it by trying to portray himself unvarnished in his Confessions. He would therefore understand that social networks could become a place where we show happy moments in our lives, where we also express our cockroaches and our hopes, our indignation and our mood movements with sincerity, without adjusting in anticipation to the other people’s gaze, even if we want it to be favorable. Are we achieving this authenticity? Like Rousseau in his Confessions, are we not always tempted to embellish the portrait, to plead our cause, to subject ourselves in spite of ourselves to the criteria of our public? May be. Mostly on public accounts, followed by thousands of subscribers. In this sense, social networks raise, like autobiography, like any enterprise of staging the ego, interesting philosophical problems regarding the notion of authenticity. But unless you want to completely challenge the difference between “being oneself” and “giving a false image of oneself”, it must be admitted that in one form or another, authenticity exists, even in a process of representation of the self that anticipates the gaze of others and which takes note, in addition, of the social influences in the constitution of the ego.
There would be material to extend these analyzes, to deepen them, to deploy them more skilfully. I will be satisfied with the draft that I have just offered. It already helps, it seems to me, to analyze social networks while seeing the current relevance of Rousseau’s ideas.
Suggestions ? Write to Robert Dutrisac: [email protected].