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>.

SSTLS Pages 154-156

In his article “Will China Surpass U.S. as a World’s Superpower?” in the Chicago Tribune, Varjavand argues that the United States will continue to holds its position as a world’s superpower due to its influential capitalistic economy and positive attitudes toward foreign policy, human rights, multiculturalism, equality, and education. Varjavand claims that China will take years to bridge the gap necessary to reach the world-status currently held by the United States because of its unstable political system. Further, the presence of many poor citizens also prevents China from growing as a superpower and despite any economic crises that the U.S. might experience ahead “there is light at the end of the tunnel” (Varjavand, 2015).  Varjavand’s position contradicts the futuristic happenings in SSTLS, where China is a global superpower with a very wealthy population. In the United States portrayed by Shteyngart China is seen as the driving force behind the American economy, but China’s citizens are parsimonious and won’t spend their money in America. In the story, in a meeting with the Governor of the People’s Bank of China-Worldwide, Wangsheng Li, U.S. president Cortez states: “The American people need China-Worldwide to become a savior of our last manufacturers, large and small. China is no longer a poor country. It is time for the Chinse people to spend”. In this dystopic world, the odds that China would become a Superpower came true, refuting Varjavand’s argument. Ultimately, SSTLS presents the worst possible scenario of what could happen if the United States wouldn’t recover from the Great recession of 2008.

Varjavand, Reza. “Will China Surpass U.S. as World’s Superpower?” Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

In Super Sad True Love Story, social media interactions are the top priority of everyone in the world. The problem is so huge, people actually are willing to commit suicide when the networks shut down and apparati can no longer be used. It is an age where the world is completely dependent on social interaction through technology, and one that appears quite similar to our own. One effect of this social media practice seen in both our society and the novel’s is a waning in empathy. In an opinion article titled “Stop Googling. Let’s talk.” printed in the New York Times, author Sherry Turkle explains how empathy between college students has decreased 40% since the technological age, the majority of the decrease occurring since 2000, and how even five days without using technology, such as at summer camp, can show an increase in human connection and meaningful conversation.

Turkle’s ideas are an intriguing commentary on our world and can be added to Shteyngart’s arguments in his novel. First, characters don’t have much empathy for one another. Jenny doesn’t acknowledge Eunice’s heartfelt comments about friendship (176) and Eunice’s first encounter with David leaves her saying they aren’t all in together for David’s cause (146). In contrast to this, while following Turkle’s arguments, Eunice, cut off from technology after the Rupture, sends messages that cannot be received by anyone. In one message to Jenny, she says, “White people don’t really care about old people, except for David who tried to help everyone. And then they shot him like a dog” (265). Eunice changes her earlier seemingly apathetic comments about David to empathetic ones. After spending time thinking about the atrocities and having no connection to technology to distract her, Eunice is finally able to connect to David’s strive to help people and be angry with his death.

   On page 247 of ‘ Super Sad True Love Story’, the author described Lenny’s and Eunice’s running back to Manhattan at the special time of political upheaval.  When they needed to get on the ferry, Eunice told Lenny that she could go to find her sister and David alone but Lenny thought that Eunice’s credit was too low to be distinguished from the LNWI protestors that she would easily be killed by mistakes.

   What a horrible and dystopic world! In my picture above, the bad credit card and good credit card are pointing to different life directions; this book corresponds to this picture very well that bad credits point to death and good credits point to life. In the world Lenny lived, people were no longer fresh bodies but digitalized credit numbers. When people were interacting, it would not be one’s integrity or characteristics that can make people like him but his credits. Humans were put in rankings just by credits; there is no human equity deep down people’s thoughts. When one’s number is lower than one certain value,  he would be no longer deemed as valuable and worthy to be saved. Worst of all, this pathetic phenomenon could be a vicious cycle that if people only appreciate high credits, then people who have credits could be put in higher positions and had priority in using social resources, which can result in generations of high credits. Gradually, the social wealth would be controlled by small amounts of social elites, causing opportunities to climb up social ladder to be infinitely small. What would happen then? Turmoil. Killing. War.

     Thus, I believe that as the biggest threat of world relying on highly developed technology, digitalization is also the most dystopic point in this book.

Pg 8-9

It only makes sense that a notable characteristic of a dystopian society is introduced at the beginning of the novel when the setting is being introduced. Upon his return to America, Lenny is confronted by an otter that questions him regarding his activities abroad. What is particularly reflective of a dystopian society here is that everything has to and will be reported to the overarching government. When the otter was asking Lenny intimate questions such as accounts of sexual intercourse, it became clear to me that the world of SSTLS is an exemplary anti-Utopian society in which the government surveils the lives of the citizens to the point where the word privacy essentially becomes a null term. Furthermore, the way in which the otter tries to promote patriotism is characteristic of a totalitarian society in which the public is brainwashed to serve the nation for the “collective good”.

The picture I chose is very self-explanatory. It shows, perhaps in an exaggerated way, how in the world of SSTLS, the lives on people are often spied upon by the government. I found it interesting the way Lenny was passive-aggressively questioned about his daily life and the way patriotism is promoted but not enforced. This to me is an indication of the world heading towards the path of a totalitarian society and it sheds grim premonitions about the future events that are to unfold in this novel due to a seemingly dystopian setting the audience is introduced to.