Unhappy distraction

Back in December we ran an article in en on self-harm.

It was prompted by relative silence from Christians. Young people are cutting themselves and committing suicide at an alarming rate in this new digital era of the secularised Western world. This horrific tragedy even breaks surface from time to time in and around the church. But the recent campaign surrounding 14-year-old Molly Russell, who sadly took her own life after viewing images of self-harm online, has brought it to the fore.

At the end of February, Adam Mossari, chief executive of Instagram, became the first technology boss to admit that companies like his own and Facebook could do more to protect the vulnerable who use social media. He said that, while focusing on the good that can come from connecting people, the industry had tended to ignore the risks.

Happiness?

It would be foolish to blame the technology itself. We have to look at the ideas which circulate in society and shape the way social media gets used – especially by young people finding their way in life and seeking to establish a credible identity among their peers.

This is a vast subject, but one of the drivers concerns this generation’s take on happiness. An unquestioned assumption is that personal happiness is found in leisure, stimulation, good circumstances, celebrity (even just a little bit) and variety of experience. This boils down to connectivity, to which the Internet is perfectly suited. But it inevitably goes hand-in-hand with living a distracted life. ‘Maybe the next email will bring my big break.’ ‘Has my latest post generated some “likes”? – I need to look.’ And, apart from the needs of our own fragile egos, there is a whole science of quickly-changing graphics used by digital providers designed to keep us attentive.

However, perhaps this diverse and distracted consciousness is not the road to long-term happiness at all. In the 1980s and 90s, Professor Neil Postman presciently warned of this in his books Amusing Ourselves to Death and Technopoly.

Focus

Current research indicates that real satisfaction and lasting happiness comes through concentration, not distraction. Researcher Winifred Gallagher writes: ‘Diverse disciplines – from anthropology to education, behavioural economics to family counselling – suggest that the skillful management of attention is the sine qua non of the good life and the key to improving virtually every aspect of your experience.’1 This insight overturns the popular view of finding happiness. It is not first of all about ‘experiencing’ life but of taking control. If you focus on a cancer diagnosis, or on what has been said about you by cyberbullies, you and your life will become unhappy and dark. But if you focus instead on sunny skies and loved ones, you and your life become more pleasant – even though the circumstances haven’t changed. Gallagher summarises like this: ‘Who you are, what you think, feel and do, what you love – is the sum of what you focus on.’ The problem for many in the Internet generation is that they are taught to truly focus on virtually nothing.

By contrast Scripture has always taught us that intense concentration on the best objects brings lasting benefit. Blessed is the man who meditates and delights in God’s law. ‘Whatever is true… honourable… just… pure… lovely … think about these things.’ And in a difficult world disciples should fix their eyes upon Jesus and consider him.