Comparing Emerson's 'Social Media And Loneliness'

Literary critic Benjamin Roberts uses the gothic genre with a little mixture of the detective genre to critique the growing reliance on technology to communicate rather than actual human interaction. Roberts continues his critique of this reliance by bringing up the label that our generation has been branded “the loneliest [generation]” (2). Matt Pittman also argues this in his article “Social Media And Loneliness: Why An Instagram Picture May Be Worth More Than A Thousand Twitter Words”, “It is surprising then that, in spite of this enhanced interconnectivity, young adults may be lonelier than other age groups, and that the current generation may be the loneliest ever” (155). “I”’s openness to loneliness that plagues his generation seems …show more content…
Roberts uses the reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transparent eyeball as a way to align “I” quest to find himself to Emerson’s own belief in trusting yourself. It’s an homage/critique to Emerson’s own belief outlined in his essay “Self-Reliance”, where he says “Insist on yourself: never imitate” (199). “I” truly embodies Emerson’s principal of insisting on yourself, the only problem is his insistence on himself brought him t the brinks of completing his own sanity. Emerson saw the world through this unique perspective that God was in every one of else through our connection with nature but Roberts juxtaposes “I”’s mind state that his instincts the very instincts Emerson tells you to follow without questioning leads him to very absence of nature in his life. Roberts even in his style with the use of pronoun “I” emulates Emerson’s refusal to use anything but I in his writing. Both use the “I” pronoun to align the reader to the events of the story, that what they’re reading is almost their experience. The homage to Emerson comes in the form of both writers looking down on society reliance on technology. Emerson wrote in “Self- Reliance”, “All men plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves” (199), an ideal that “I” embodies. He exists mainly through his reliance on technology but this improvement in society doesn’t improve him. His lack of human connection due to societal …show more content…
Roberts use of point of view forces the reader into “I”’s mind as a way to show the drastic effects the reliance on technology can have to a human psyche. Roberts uses this isolation of his main character to show that human interaction is a key element to human sustainability. The “Impossible Kid” isn’t just a critique on how we live but on why we live? Roberts wants the world to rely on each other again, not on these machines that have become more familiar to us then our next door neighbors. His use of the detective voice over gives the reader something to identify with as there’s no other view point of the events in the story other than “I”s. Roberts goal is to make the reader realize that he/she isn’t too far from “I” experience: your reliance on technology to communicate for you is a misrepresentation of the very ability to communicate. The ability to identify with madness is not something you should be alright with, in fact, it’s something that should scare you as much as the gremlin scares