Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for —Viktor Frankl
Frankl is credited with coining the term ‘Sunday neurosis’ that refers to
the dejection that is felt at the end of the working week when a person
realizes just how empty and meaningless his/her life is.
That however, is not the reason that I am sitting on my couch on a Sunday afternoon scratching my head trying to figure out how to turn this psychological blabber into an intelligent digital piece. So I turn to Google and search for the meaning of life only to read the Wikipedia page on Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. I am impressed reading about him and his work but can't help thinking jestingly how his thoughts would be translated in our current digital world.
Well, according to Frankl, meaning can be found through:
- Creativity or giving something to the world through self- expression
Hmm, maybe that's why so many people are on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites posting pictures and making status updates. That reminds me, it's been a while since I updated my fb status. Lemme do that right now... back again, wait a minute, isn't this blog my creative piece of self-expression. Duh! - Experiencing the world by interacting authentically with our environment and with others
Hmm, I figure checking out my friends posts, commenting on them and poking a few girlfriends on fb can count as interaction with the environment and others. Wait a minute, does that make me a nerd? Though I guess in today's time that is a good thing, because wasn't it Bill Gates, the original nerd and one of the world's richest man who said, "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one"
- Changing our attitude when we are faced with a situation or circumstance that we cannot change.Well there is the prayer, "God, give me courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference" But it's difficult!! Can't I just de-friend them on facebook??
3 comments:
And by the way, even if we cannot find an obvious link between this book and digital marketing its pretty worth reading.
I agree Ilana, it's a pretty amazing book. A must read!
I think this topic is very interesting. Man's search for meaning might have taken us to the world we are in today. My space, Second Life, Facebook , Google + , all these amazing digital innovations that allow us to share, communicate and stay in contact. But – lets pause and think about it… What is the meaning that we are getting out of this digital world? Is this making us any happier?
I was reading this article by Deborah Mackay http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/08/08/social-media-the-pursuit-of-happiness/ that made me think. For how many of us the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is to reach for our smartphone to check various social networks, to find who are our followers, how many we have, what people say about our comments before we even get up, have breakfast, say hi to our loved ones, brush our teeth, stretch our legs or check if its raining or the sun is shining ?
So, did social network turn into obsession? Do they actually take us where we want to go or where we need to go in our lives? Do they fulfill the meaning we are looking for? I don’t have exact answer to this question, as I think its purely personal but if you wake up with your smart phone before looking out to the window to enjoy the sun shining -as I do sometimes- take a pause and make a point to enjoy real life first, as it has a lot of beauty to offer.
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