My virtual ego
Strap yourself in, we are going leftfield in today’s post. Think Chinese philosophy meets Chinese technology. And it all leads me to a new and better vision for our digital future.
Zen and my virtual persona
I’ve been meditating for over 20 years, and I could probably summarize what I’ve learned by saying that Zen practice is ultimately about the dissolving of the human ego. Your ego, it seems, likes to build up its own fantasy version of the world. Most of life’s distress and disappointment then comes about as a result of reality not meeting the demands of the ego. For example, if your ego is running a fantasy program such as “I am a happy person” or “I am a kind person”, reality will at some point present you with concrete evidence that this is not currently the case - certainly not all of the time and probably not even most of the time. These disappointing moments in life, when fantasy is confronted with reality, if taken on board, can be very helpful in coming to terms with who you are and help us to get back in touch with reality. Even if you don’t meditate, life will still ultimately be your greatest teacher.
But this type of life therapy doesn’t work with my virtual ego or my online avatar. When my 10-year-old son plays Minecraft he is able to sustain all manner of fantasy that the human ego craves: such as the feeling of being in complete control of his environment or even the feeling of immortality (in video games you can take crazy risks and then come back to life when you die). Similarly, social media sites allow people to doctor their images and edit out all the boring stuff to portray a constant life of beauty, excitement and fulfillment. So rather than us going through the healthy process of getting back in touch with reality “as it is”, our online world now gives us the chance to change reality to be “as it should be” according the demands of our egos.
Now, you might say “what’s wrong with that?” Well, unfortunately you can’t live in the virtual world all of the time. My wife and I recently observed that our children’s behavior and sense of self-worth was starting to deteriorate and so we put in place a weekday ban on “screen time” (the use of ipads and phones). After a couple of days of complaints as they went “cold turkey” from their addiction, we observed a massive improvement in their behavior both at home and in school. My conclusion is that my children spending too much time in an online fantasy world perfectly tailored to their wants and desires was making it all the more difficult for them to cope with real life at home and in school. Completing an hour of “boring homework” was becoming close to impossible for them – where is the instant gratification in homework? Our children are feeling a lot better now that we have “unplugged them from the Matrix” (a reference to a must watch movie, by the way).
Similarly, the people who portray a fantasy world on social media are creating two sources of anxiety for themselves and others. The first source is that they become fearful that someone will catch them out and spot that that their real life is nowhere near as glamorous as what they have portrayed online. The second problem is that they start to believe that the lives portrayed online by others is real. They get the sense that their friends are constantly on holiday and have flawless skin. After 2 hours of browsing Instagram they switch their phone off and observe the mess on their bedroom floor. They walk into the bathroom and take a look in the mirror only to notice a blemish or, worse still, their first grey hair. They feel like they are falling short. One of our friends who is in her 20s recently told us that she and her friends conceded that they had become addicted to Instagram sitting up browsing their phones until midnight every night. They decided to take a break and also noticed a big uplift in their general sense of well-being. So it seems screen time bans can also work for grown-ups!
Where is this all heading?
Unfortunately this is just the beginning. While I was in China last week, the facial recognition systems were successfully picking up my image as I wandered in and out of buildings. One of our colleagues in China said that her image and name recently appeared on a very large screen as she was crossing the street announcing to the world that she had been fined for jaywalking. This facial recognition technology opens up the opportunity for the big tech companies to start altering my environment in the real world not just online. For example, there are now advertising boards that will be able to spot you coming and will show you a different advert based on their knowledge of your online persona.
Again, you might say “what’s wrong with that? I like having my environment tailored”. Well it is not all positive. There was a recent high profile case of a teenage girl in the UK who had been fed thousands of images of self-harm and who continued to receive these images in her online account even after she had committed suicide. This was all being powered by an “if-you-liked-that-then-you’ll-probably-like-this” algorithm. This is a rather extreme version of my online interactions starting to have an impact on the broader sense of who I am. Or to put it another way it starts to make me feel that “this is all that I am”. At the point when we have cameras tracking us everywhere, constantly harvesting our data and pumping us information and images, there is a risk that we won’t be able to find a sanctuary away from this 2-dimensional portrayal of our personality.
What is to be done?
I’ve concluded we need a new vision for our digital future: Instead of using technology to encourage people to spend more and more of their time online, I picture a world where technology is used to free up more and more of our time to spend in the real world. After all, it’s a wonderful place, filled with wonderful people. Warts and all.