Narcissuss Facebook Profile Essay - 1187 Words

In Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLluhan uses the Greek myth of Narcissus as a metaphor for our inability to notice the gradual societal changes engendered by new extensions of ourselves. McLuhan writes that because â€Å"the content of any medium is always another medium† (McLuhan 8), we tend to focus on the obvious, not that the message of that medium, the â€Å"social consequences... [that]...result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves† (McLuhan 7). An example he uses is that the content of a novel is print, and so we focus on the plot, not the effect of the novel on society. This syndrome he terms the â€Å"Narcissus trance,† a pseudo-hypnotic state induced by using technology†¦show more content†¦An extension allows us to perform an action more frequently or process more information, meaning the stress that motivated the extension still exists. This stress â€Å"is bearable by the nervous system only through numbness or blocking of perception† – the Narcissus trance whereby we behold the extension but not its message. In McLuhan’s reading of the myth, â€Å"the image produces a generalized numbness or shock that declines recognition. Self-amputation forbids self-recognition† (McLuhan 43). This lack of self-recognition must in-turn prohibit an objective appraisal of what has been amputated. And it is the long-term effect of these amputations that is the true message of the medium – â€Å"the power of imposing its own assumption on the unwary† (McLuhan 15). That is, once in a state of perpetual somnambulism, we re-shape our lives according to the demands of the very media we create to increase our capacities. New extensions will be shaped by previous extensions in that they will further amplify the isolated functions. Each time we behold a new extension, we embrace it, and each time we autoamputate part of ourselves, our central nervous systems responds with numbness, to localize remove â€Å"the offending organ† (McLuhan 43). â€Å"It is this continuous embrace o f our own technology, in daily use† McLuhan writes, â€Å"that puts us in the Narcissus role† and prohibits us from seeing how any new extension is a