Chica Dreams

Today I thought about the movie, American Psycho. A movie with almost no plot and based upon the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The main character, Patrick Bateman answers to no one on a personal level and is completely disconnected from real human interaction. Though he interacts with others on a superficial level, comparing business cards and clothing, intimacy is non-existent in this sterile, materialistic world.

A study published in American Sociological Review during 2006 stated that more Americans are lonlier and more isolated than two decades ago. Twenty-five percent of us have no one to confide in and “The percentage of people who confide only in family increased from 57% to 80%.”

Speculation on why people are lonlier ranges from more home entertainment (in the form of TV and computers) to spending more time at work.

That people are becoming increasingly isolated resulting from the internet is disturbingly reminiscent of dytopian literature. One can find exactly the right amount of interaction needed and lock into their own pathologies (much like Mr. Bateman), but there is something lost in the process (intimacy?).

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Cass R. Sunstein. comments on how people screen the information they receive through the internet based upon their likes and dislikes, “With just a few clicks, you can find dozens of Web sites that show you are quite right to like what you already like and think what you already think.”

This is not new. When we read papers for our daily news we selected from local and national sources; the difference is, those newspapers also contained headlines that said, READ ME! and though we may not have wanted to spend the time, inevitably we would become more enlightened individuals by some other area of thought, state of the world, or aspect of humanity that we had not understood before.

Today, most people screen the information they take in, much like they screen their calls. For good reason of course. Experience tells us there’s a lot bad information and we don’t want to waste time, but in this screening process there are definite assurances telling us we’re right when we may not be.

Self-absorption and narcissism are snarky buzzwords today, thrown about in reference to those who appear better off financially, are more popular or obnoxious in celebrity status, but there’s something disturbing when so many people use those words in reference to co-workers, friends and family members.

Perhaps all that positive reinforcement in the area of parenting went a bit too far; instead of punishing those children who needed to be punished, they were ignored and pat on the head when they did anything slightly benign.

Or perhaps it’s just time to distance ourselves from the rest of humanity and interact digitally, finding satisfaction in virtual relationships, cyber sex and fleeting romances and acting out our fantasies of self-aggrandizment and egoism.

I didn’t like the movie and the book was not something I could engage with, but when I think about the message, I think I perhaps I may have missed something.