Posts tagged "Facebook"
Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized
Celebrity / Film / Humor / Music / Psychology / Science / Suffering / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized

by David Zahl on Apr 27, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. On Slate, Emily Shire asks, “Should Celebrity Body ‘Struggles’ Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves?” and her insightful little response doubles as quite the treatise on the function of Standards (of beauty etc) and how attempts to allay judgment often backfire, i.e. that the notch on the scale isn’t the issue so much as the scale itself:

Allure’s feature is only one of the latest in a long line of magazine stories about female celebrities “bravely” grappling with their “physical imperfections.” A growing number of publications are trying to pass off barely-clad celebrities strutting their stuff as an inspiring act…

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Instagram Knowing: Why Little Sips Don’t Equal A Big Gulp
America / Identity / Relationships

Instagram Knowing: Why Little Sips Don’t Equal A Big Gulp

by Ethan on Apr 25, 2012 • 2 Comments

As if there weren’t enough people writing about it already, I suppose for posterity’s sake we’ll continue unfurling the scrolls. Apparently there’s an opinion out there that says that if we’re everywhere at once, we’re nowhere at all. That technology–most significantly the ever-presence of the smartphone, the synced life, the facebooked life–has kept anyone from knowing anybody. Why, though? Having a sister who lives 2,000 miles away, I’m glad I have a chance to watch my nieces and nephew grow up by way of her Instagram updates. Is there anything wrong with that? It’s a great way for me see…

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Another Week Ends: Blue Like Jazz, Youth Ministry, Franzen, Facebook, and Harvard Grads
Bible / Children / Film / Identity / News / Religion / Theology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Blue Like Jazz, Youth Ministry, Franzen, Facebook, and Harvard Grads

by Todd Brewer on Apr 20, 2012 • 5 Comments

Filling in for DZ this week as the Mockingbird Conference is now in full swing!

1. Our very own Cameron Cole wrote a wonderful piece on youth ministry over at The Gospel Coalition, highlighting its strong tendency toward legalism and making a plea for a gospel-centered youth ministry.

Wanting validation for their tireless labor, youth ministers occasionally focus on behavior modification as a means of providing tangible proof of the efficacy of their ministry. A kid carrying his or her Bible to school, signing a chastity pledge, or sporting a WWJD bracelet may appear like signs of spiritual progress—the fruit of…

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If Only You Were Lonely: Social Media, Self-Forgetfulness and Yvette Vickers’ Computer
America / Identity / Religion / Social Science / Technology / Theology

If Only You Were Lonely: Social Media, Self-Forgetfulness and Yvette Vickers’ Computer

by David Zahl on Apr 13, 2012 • 7 Comments

Lord have mercy! The Atlantic just dropped the article of the year, at least as far as this website is concerned. Underneath the slightly been-there-done-that title of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” lies an exploration of identity creation and loneliness and self-immolation that may even jerk a few tears of grief. Stephen Marche has crafted a tour-de-force, combing the research, polling the experts and injecting a fair amount of his own considerable insight to form a fairly significant statement about modern life (not to mention a timely endorsement of online communities needing flesh-and-blood get-togethers every once and a while…).

The basic…

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Why Am I So Obsessed With That Person From Sixth Grade? Cyberstalking and the Permanent Reunion
Identity / Law / Social Science / Technology

Why Am I So Obsessed With That Person From Sixth Grade? Cyberstalking and the Permanent Reunion

by David Zahl on Feb 15, 2012 • 4 Comments

The rejection we feel when we find out that someone has de-friended us on Facebook or stopped following us on Twitter must be the definition of a ‘modern problem.’ We usually discover these things by accident, which probably accounts for why they sneak through our defenses so easily. Just the other day, for example, I noticed that someone had un-followed me on Twitter, and almost immediately, I found myself drawn into a web of self-recrimination. It was particularly silly since I was about to stop following them. And I knew my reasons had very little to do with my esteem…

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Another Week Ends: Hitch, Facebook Blues, Baby Morality, Auden’s Conversion, M:I4, The Replacements, Gorey Animation, and Knowing Yule
Children / Death / Film / Humor / Identity / Law / Music / Poetry / Religion / Social Science / Sports / Technology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Hitch, Facebook Blues, Baby Morality, Auden’s Conversion, M:I4, The Replacements, Gorey Animation, and Knowing Yule

by David Zahl on Dec 16, 2011 • 1 Comment

1. By now you’ve no doubt heard that legendary journalist/polemicist/personality/Atheist Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. Hitchens was always my favorite of the New Atheists, and not just because he was the funniest. Alone of his colleagues (and I’m sure he hated being lumped in with anyone!), he seemed to object to the Gospel itself, rather than the normal hangups about the Bible or the Church. He found the idea of Grace to be repulsive and morally reprehensible. “Vicarious redemption” is what he called it, insisting that the notion that a person could be forgiven by someone other than the one they…

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Another Week Ends: Frictionless Sharing, Death Penalty, Modern Family, Community, Indie Bias, Maurice Sendak, Wilco and Walker Percy
Books / Children / Death / Film / Music / News / Religion / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Frictionless Sharing, Death Penalty, Modern Family, Community, Indie Bias, Maurice Sendak, Wilco and Walker Percy

by David Zahl on Sep 23, 2011 • 2 Comments

1. A rather frightening article on Slate about Mark Zuckerberg’s proposed “frictionless sharing” entitled, “Not Sharing Is Caring.” As per usual, the vehicle in the world with the most potential for transparency continues to foster its exact opposite. Facebook is just the vehicle, of course, not the cause, but still… to mention escalating narcissism at this point seems almost silly, ht JS:

Sharing, in Zuckerberg’s view, has morphed from an affirmative act—that video was hilarious, I think I’ll Like it!—to something more like an unconscious state of being. I watched that video, and therefore it will be shared. If Facebook’s CEO…

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Inauthentic Authenticity and the Best Way to Sell Yourself (Short)
America / Celebrity / Identity / Technology

Inauthentic Authenticity and the Best Way to Sell Yourself (Short)

by David Zahl on Sep 13, 2011 • 3 Comments

A terrifically astute article by Stephanie Rosenbloom appeared in this past weekend’s NY Times on the subject of Authenticity. Specifically, how “authentic” has become the buzz word de jour in US politics and newsmedia, and how its meaning has changed as a result.

Who doesn’t want to be thought of as authentic, after all? It’s a wonderful quality. We could all use a little less spin, with both ourselves and others, and not just because of how it opens up the ability to love/be loved. Yet as the article wisely points out, authenticity is not really something that can be cultivated.…

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Another Week Ends: “You Look Good,” Ferris Bueller, and Other Lies…
Film / Music / Philosophy / Religion / Science / Technology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: “You Look Good,” Ferris Bueller, and Other Lies…

by Bryan J. on Jun 17, 2011 • 2 Comments

It is both my privilege and pleasure to fill in for DZ this week! So here’s your Another Week Ends post, Bryan J. style!

1) A follow up to DZ’s great post on The Argumentative Theory of Reasoning, found here, another NYT article titled “Reason Seen More as Weapon than Path to Truth” continues to expound upon this very Mockingbird theory of reason. What’s unique about this piece- its view of flawed arguments:

What is revolutionary about argumentative theory is that it presumes that since reason has a different purpose — to win over an opposing group — flawed reasoning is an…

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Franzen on Technological Grace, The Dangers of Liking and the Cost of Loving
Literature / Relationships / Technology

Franzen on Technological Grace, The Dangers of Liking and the Cost of Loving

by David Zahl on Jun 2, 2011 • 3 Comments

So what is it about Kenyon College that inspires such great commencement speeches?! Maybe it’s the creative residue that Bill Watterson left behind at his alma mater (or John Zahl for that matter). Whatever the case, Jonathan Franzen followed in his friend and colleague David Foster Wallace’s steps and delivered this year’s address, an essayified version of which appeared in The NY Times last week. Franzen took the opportunity to rhapsodize on a number of our favorite subjects: human narcissism in relation to technology, the promise & power & problem of l-o-v-e, and inspiring call of (mocking)birds. At one point…

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Poetry / Technology

The Facebook Sonnet – Sherman Alexie

by David Zahl on May 17, 2011 • 5 Comments

Welcome to the endless high-school
Reunion. Welcome to past friends
And lovers, however kind or cruel.
Let’s undervalue and unmend

The present. Why can’t we pretend
Every stage of life is the same?
Let’s exhume, resume, and extend
Childhood. Let’s play all the games

That occupy the young. Let fame
And shame intertwine. Let one’s search
For God become public domain.
Let church.com become our church

Let’s sign up, sign in, and confess
Here at the altar of loneliness.

The Internet Never Forgets, or The Impossibility of Digital Absolution
Identity / News / Technology

The Internet Never Forgets, or The Impossibility of Digital Absolution

by David Zahl on Apr 7, 2011 • 2 Comments

We can run but we can’t hide. At least not online. *deep sigh* The NY Times took another fascinating look at electronic indelibility this past weekend in their article “Erasing the Digital Past,” which doubles as a follow-up to the post we did a little while ago on the same subject. This is fertile ground indeed. When I worked as a youth minister, one of our most effective incriminating illustrations for original sin was that of a DVD of one’s life, subtitled with one’s thoughts. The kids would always gasp. Keep it secret, keep it safe! Well, it would appear…

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Another Week Ends: Japan, Facebook & Divorce, Preschool Litigation, more Galli on B(h)ell, The Beach Boys’ Smile, Community
Books / Conferences / Humor / Music / News / Relationships / Reviews / Suffering / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Japan, Facebook & Divorce, Preschool Litigation, more Galli on B(h)ell, The Beach Boys’ Smile, Community

by David Zahl on Mar 18, 2011 • 1 Comment

1. Two very moving additions to the coverage of the disasters in Japan. First, if you can decipher the google-translation, there’s the story of a woman who sacrificed her life to warn a village of the impending destruction here. And two, the footage that made this all very real to yours truly. If it doesn’t get you on your knees, nothing will (be sure to stick with it to the end):

2. An amusing report in the Guardian about Facebook and divorce. If ever there was an excuse to take a potshot at lawyers for having a shallow view of human…

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Friction and Addiction in New Social Media
Addiction / Identity / News / Psychology / Social Science / Technology

Friction and Addiction in New Social Media

by David Zahl on Mar 1, 2011 • 3 Comments

A fascinating read, from beginning to end, in GQ about what’s going on behind the “New Social Media” phenomenon in Silicon Valley, “The Viral Me”. The answer appears to be a peculiar form of narcissism, which is as idealistic about changing the way people relate as it is cynical in its understanding of how to do so. In other words, these guys are attempting to (and succeeding in) exploit our addictive tendencies (via endlessly random incentives) and predict our self-justifying impulses for the sake of efficiency and harmony. At bottom, all this new tech is exciting, terrifying and very, very…

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Technology, Honesty, Loneliness and Identity: Facebook Making Us Sad, Take 2
Books / Identity / Psychology

Technology, Honesty, Loneliness and Identity: Facebook Making Us Sad, Take 2

by David Zahl on Feb 22, 2011 • 2 Comments

A follow-up to the recent post about Facebook making us sad is the full-length review in the NY Times of MIT professor Sherry Turkle’s new book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. She’s basically exploring the psychological side effects of the Internet, which of course, have an enormous amount to do with identity, anxiety, control and what we call the Law. Although one does detect a slight air of curmudgeonliness (“in my day…”), and some of the insights may strike you as awfully self-evident, it nevertheless sounds like a worthwhile and important book:

Many…

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