The New York Times

“We Want Privacy, but Can’t Stop Sharing” by Kate Murphy

Published October 4, 2014

The article introduced the idea of how there is no such thing as privacy on the internet. What you post online can be used against you in the future; for example, keep you from getting a job. And it is difficult to argue for privacy when people readily share their entire lives via social networks. The article also argues the more invisible effects of lack of privacy stating that the knowledge of being watched promotes conformity and stifles individuality causing depression, anxiety, and the like. They made an analogy between privacy and sleep saying that “just as being unconscious for a portion of the day is restorative, so is being unselfconscious.” The people who want privacy aren’t trying to hide anything as might be assumed but rather just want to hold on to themselves.

This particular article relates to SSTLS in that there is also no such thing as privacy in their world. Though in the book, they’re not necessarily posting their personal information themselves, but it is still available for anyone to see and it is ultimately used against them such as in the bar seen with the FAC (pgs. 89-90) and in the mention of the poles around town that scan and show your credit score as you pass by (pg. 80). The section of the article explaining how surveillance suppresses individuality can be directly compared and proven by how Lenny tries to avoid broadcasting his love for books and keeps them hidden in an effort to assimilate to the expectations of society (pgs. 37, 78,144).

In the dystopian society of Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, technology is the main interface through which people interact.  There is such limited face-to-face communication and interaction between the characters in this novel, because everyone is consumed by the encompassing world of the apparati.  People rely so heavily on their apparati and the online connection that when all of the connections were cut, several young people committed suicide, because they “needed to be ranked, to know [their] place in this world” (Shteyngart 270).  This reliance is not so farfetched from today’s society.  Nilles declares that technology, although it provides a miraculous way to stay in touch with friends long distance, is actually a hindrance in the way that it causes a disconnect from the world around us.  This “technological detachment” is providing a sense of isolation that is seen in Super Sad True Love Story (Nilles 1).  When Lenny and his two best friends, Noah and Vishnu, hang out they are focused mainly on their apparati, and teaching Lenny how to use the new functions while streaming the whole embarrassing moment live.  From page 88 to 91, the lack of real conversation between the three friends is astounding.  Their sole focus is on the ratings and how they are perceived by others through them.  This is paralleled to our society’s focus on social media and the quantity of friends rather than the quality.  As Nilles bluntly states, “technology seems to be subtly destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others” and nothing can replace the face-to-face connection of body language, facial expressions, and the attention of another.

Nilles, Melissa.  “Technology is Destroying the Quality of Human Interaction.” The Bottom Line.  N.p., 24 Jan. 2012.  Web.  5 Oct. 2015.

The article I chose is about how the NSA and MI5 used leaky apps to steal data. In the article the author explains how the apps passively collect information about the users. The UK and US spy agencies then used a “backdoor” into the apps to collect this information. Apparently the agencies could collect address books, geographic data embedded in photos, and even phone logs. The information was supposedly used so that advertising agencies could tailor their adverts to each individual user and so increase their chance of sales. The article finishes however, with the note that the NSA at least had yet to find a way of dealing with the surplus of information they were receiving. So for the moment our information is safe in its anonymity. I felt that this led directly to the books themes on privacy, technology, and the almost Orwellian American government represented.

For me this urge to collect as much information about ones citizens as physically possible reminded me of the scene were Lenny visits the Embassy in the 1st chapter from page 7. In this scene he submitted to a string of very personal questions from an animated otter.

Likewise, the amount of information that the government can collect from our phones reminded me of the scene in the 3^rd chapter from page 35 where Lenny is researching Eunice’s life. He is capable of finding out so much information from her online footprint. Spy organizations like MI5 and NSA have so much more access into our online life than the average person, that to them the act of learning about any one person must seem almost exactly the same as it was for Lenny learning about Eunice.

Link: http://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-using-leaky-apps-like-angry-birds-google-maps-to-siphon-user-data/

In the novel a Super Sad True Love Story, a key concept is the prominent role that technology plays in the lives of each member of this dystopian society. The function of the apparat to reveal essentially all information about each character including family history, socioeconomic status and specific earnings, marital status, romantic information, just to mention a few. In the latter stages of the book, Lenny references the fact that the power had been shut down in the New York area, breaking off society’s connection to their devices and social media in its entirety. This caused disarray from most people and even some suicide as a result of the apparent inability to function.

This seemingly ridiculous reaction to a separation from technology, however, represents a situation not all too different from modern society. In KQED news, Katrina Schwartz discusses the reality of our dependability on technology to operate. We, especially as teens and young adults, have created a system of communication that lacks socializing through any means apart from technology. Relationships, friendships, even education seems to all be accomplished by staring into a screen and allowing are fingers to flow through touch screens and key pad to form meaning. We have become stuck in a world where we are unaware of many of our surroundings and feel that we need said devices to stay in touch and to survive every day life.

Schwartz, Katrina. “What Happens When Teens Try to Disconnect From Tech For Three Days.” MindShift. 6 Mar. 2015. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

In the article The Era of Automatic Facial Recognition And Surveillance Is Here, by Bruce Schneier, the idea is introduced that computers will soon be able to download our entire biography just with one glimpse of our face on a video feed or photograph. This technology is soon to be available from store security cameras to passing police officers to Facebook and other social media. “A computer is now as good as a person,” Schneier writes, “and while we humans are pretty much as good at this as we’re ever going to get, computers will continue to improve” (Schneier, pg. 2). This surveillance technology is very similar to Gary Shteyngart’s, Super Sad True Love Story, how credit scores are available just by walking past certain poles on the street (SSTLS pg. 37-39), anyone can be stalked on the internet to the point where their parents’ home address can be found (SSTLS pg. 54-55), and one’s life story is available at the click of a button at a bar in Staten Island (SSTLS pg. 90-92). The idea that surveillance using technology to publicize identity simultaneously eliminates privacy in everyday life is less “facial recognition for all” and more “for those who can either demand of pay for access to the required technologies – most importantly, the tagged photo database” (Schneier, pg. 3). This particularly draws attention to pages 37 to 39 of Super Sad True Love Story, where Lenny uses the internet to find out everything about Eunice Park that there is to know, from her original home in southern California to the size of clothing that Eunice and her sister Sally prefer to wear and the photographs posted on social media sites. Lenny has access to every detail of Eunice’s life on his personal computer and he’s only just met her at this point in the novel. The society depicted in Super Sad True Love Story is exactly the kind of society that is plagued by surveillance that eliminates all privacy with just a flash of one’s face across a security camera feed.

Schneier, Bruce. “The Era Of Automatic Facial Recognition And Surveillance Is Here.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceschneier/2015/09/29/the-era-of-automatic-facial-recognition-and-surveillance-is-here/>.

The popular source I chose is a newsletter on readwrite.com. The article is titled “How Technology Changes Our Relationships” and relates to Super Sad True Love Story because it explores the impact of technology on human relationships. The newsletters argument that society has become obsessed with technology, devaluing face to face relationships and causing a sense of isolation is supported by SSTLS’s portrayal of the change in character when around technology.

The newsletter claims that technology is a glorious tool that that we spend too much time on, either shopping or talking to other people. All this time spent on the internet makes us isolated and when with each other the use of technology makes “people want to be with each other, but also else where.” This impact of technology on human relationships is shown on page 99 of the novel when Eunice arrives to New York for the first time to visit Lenny and Lenny remarks that instead of being solely with him she is “absorbed by her aparat.” The theme of isolation caused by technology is further reinforced in Eunice’s letter to Grill-Bitch on page 144. In the letter Eunice tells Grill-Bitch that things are going very well with Lenny, “but a lot of the times I feel like I’m alone. Like I have nothing to say to him.” At this point in the novel Eunice is living with Lenny, so even though they have a lot of face to face interaction Eunice feels as if she is alone.

In conclusion, the novel and the newsletter agree that technology impacts our personal relationships with others.

http://readwrite.com/2012/03/05/how_technology_changes_our_relationships

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/09/business/fear-of-the-year-2000-bug-is-a-problem-too.html?pagewanted=all

The article I chose was from New York Times in Feb.9 1999.  The article briefly described the “Y2K” problem, and expressed people’s fear towards that problem.  “Y2K” problem is an abbreviation of “Year 2000 Problem”. Computers designed in 20^th century usually marked dates in two digits since the designers assumed the year would start with “19”; however, several programmers noticed that the whole system would shut down at the first day of 2000 because computers would recognize the year as “1900” and cause critical errors. Rumors had been spreading all over the society, and people started to go on strike since they felt the whole society would collapse. The article aimed to persuade people to stop fearing the breakdown of technology and argued that human beings could live their lives perfectly without the existence of computer systems. This article reminds me of chapter “Five-Jiao Men” in Super Sad True Love Story. In this chapter, the protagonist Lenny demonstrates how depressed the society becomes after losing the technologies. People “couldn’t see a future without their apparati” (270) since they feel they have lost connection with the society. We, as readers, felt this was exaggerating and pathetic; nevertheless, if “Y2K” problem actually occurred, our society might become as depressed as the novel describes. Fortunately, advanced programmers around the world solved the “Y2K” problem before hitting 21^st century and saved the society from falling apart. Nevertheless, I feel it is extremely lamentable for people to fear the loss of technology. I concede that technologies help people in many ways and facilitate the development of society; nonetheless, human beings should never lose hope for the future no matter whether the technologies will crash or not. Gray Shteyngart demonstrates readers how important it is to maintain humanity and to avoid abusing technologies through the destruction of the society in the novel. The social influence caused by “Y2K” problem also supported his idea of avoid abusing technologies. People should never lose hope even if “Y2K” happened. We are humans, and we are supposed to handle and operate technologies. The society will not collapse unless the technologies completely dominate us just like the way Gray Shteyngart portrays in his novel.

In Super Sad True Love Story, one thing is always constant, and that is technology. Well, it is constant until all äppäräti stop working. This sudden disconnect from technology, as seen on page 270, is enough to almost destroy the society in which Lenny, Eunice, and the rest of the characters in SSTLS live because without technology, they do not know how to communicate with each other, with some committing suicide. Unfortunately, this is not only true of the society in SSTLS, as  Margie Warrell writes in her article “Text or Talk: Is Technology Making You Lonely?” for Forbes, more people under the age of 35 feel lonely than ever before. This is mostly due to the increased use of technology and social media. Characters in SSTLS are used to judging others and being judged based on their “personality” and “fuckability” and having so much information readily available. They felt connected to each other through this but often did not know how to have real human interaction.

Warrell discusses this false sense of connection caused by technology in her article, stating that young people often turn to social media and technology as an outlet for their insecurities. People under the age of 35 have fewer confidants than people in older generations, as they are more reliant on technology for communication. They do not have as many intimate face to face interactions, which sounds similar to those in SSTLS. Young people in America today and characters in SSTLS rely too heavily on technology for their “connections” and when technology is taken away, they feel lonely and have trouble making real, intimate connections to those around them.

Warrell, Margie. “Text or Talk: Is Technology Making You Lonely?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/05/24/text-or-talk-is-technology-making-you-lonely/>.

Super Sad True Love Story demonstrates that everyone in this society uses this technology and social media to communicate and stay connected. They also use this technology to learn about the norm, and copy it to blend it. When Sally is talking to Eunice, she explains that she wants a Saami summer bra because “everyone’s wearing them. Even in Fort Lee,” demonstrating how Sally wants this article of clothing just because others have it and her reliance on technology makes it so easy for her to order it (Shteyngart 31). This is not new in our society. With all of the social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, we too understand seeing someone online and wanting to copy them. While wanting to copy an outfit is not harmful, it can lead to other major harm in our society. As Kimberly Leonard states in her article, “Is Social Media Making Self-Harm Worse For Teens,” these social media sites make it too easy to follow the crowd. Seeing others do a practice, such as cutting, can trigger another’s own desire to do the same. In her article, Leonard explains how easy it is see other people’s lives on social media and want to be similar. Both in our society and the society of Super Sad True Love Story, do individuals use social media to change themselves. Lenny bases his self confidence on being a certain status as an attractive man in a public space. He changes his identity and his actions in order to increase this arbitrary number. When Lenny describes the feeling he gets when his “male hotness skirted into the 600-s,” he states that he “would like to describe this utterly new feeling to you, diary, but I fear it will come out in purely evangelical terms,” illustrating how Lenny’s self confidence purely relies on this social media practice. The number that he receives and seeing others get higher on the list, triggers him to change. Similarly, in our society, we see what others are doing on social media which triggers us to want to fit in and change our own actions accordingly, which can clearly be harmful for ourselves.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

The article that I have selected came from the HuffingtonPost.com, and the title is called Is Social Media Dependence a Mental Health Issue. The author Klein argues that there is a connection between the use of social media and drug abuse because social media exposing drug use creates a rise in the abuse of alcohol or drugs (Klein, 2014). While social media does expose teenagers to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as using drugs, it is not justified to assume that it is the direct result of the excessive use of social media. Social media is another way of saying a technological interpretation of our society. Although there are a significant amount of images showing drug user being under the influence, that is based on the society’s preference, and social media is used as a medium to express those social preferences. As a result, if the issue is the increase of people abusing drugs, then it is up to the society itself to create the change that will benefit everyone in the future. Klein also discussed how the increase dependence in social media harms individuals mentally due to the constant self-evaluation; However, because of the biological reward that is received to ourselves from disclosing personal information, it is difficult to break from the habit (Klein, 2014). Klein then relates that component with drugs by saying that social media and drugs have similar functions in how they affect individuals (Klein, 2014). This is why in Super Sad True Love Story, the young adults were so inclined to commit suicide because while their apparati made them feel lonely at times (Shteyngart, 270), the lack of their apparati means that there is no more of the biological reward that is received when others are viewing their placement in their society.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

Klein, Sarah. “Is Social Media Dependence A Mental Health Issue?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/social-media-mental-health_n_5268108.html>.