Baha’i Perspectives

leila April 6th, 2008

Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, and the rest: though different websites with distinct aims, they all serve the purpose of connecting an increasingly interconnected generation of youth to one another.

Yet a recent article published in Newsweek also argues that such sites are contributing to the magnifying glass that has become the lens by which a generation of teenagers and twentysomethings examine each others’, and their own, lives.

This lens can be a positive thing. With Facebook and MySpace, it’s becoming easier to keep in touch with long-lost friends, and to share with others one’s thoughts, milestones, and life developments.

But the author of the article suggests that these tools are increasingly becoming used in excess by young people which, on top of the many monikers placed on this generation, she labels as the “Look at Me” generation.

Today’s youth, the author writes, are arguably so consumed with documenting their own lives, and displaying them to others, she wonders if they actually enjoy those parties or adventuresome trips they meticulously photograph, to be promptly published online the next morning.

At their best, social networking sites and image/video-sharing sites let us keep up with the pursuits of friends both near and far. But, as the author points out, they have similarly cultivated a generation of youth that is more self-absorbed than those past. Calling them “masters of their own images,” they’re able to create any impression of their lives they’d like to portray, sometimes to excess. She further highlights the ease with which one can scrutinize or compare others’ lives.

So, while social networking and other such sites are helpful tools to stay in touch with friends, they likewise have forced this generation to confront a very difficult test: the preoccupation with self and, sometimes, the petty preoccupation with others.

Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh (the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith), who led the Faith until his passing in 1957, sheds light upon the difficulties of “ego”:

Life is a constant struggle, not only against forces around us, but above all against our own ‘ego’. We can never afford to rest on our oars, for if we do, we soon see ourselves carried down stream again.

For those of us who use these social networking sites, we face a certain challenge. Do we misuse the “magnifying glass” these sites provide into the intimate details of our friends’ and acquaintances’ lives as a means to judge or criticize others? To compare our accomplishments, becoming a bit too proud of (or, conversely, dissatisfied with) our pursuits in comparison with our friends’? Is our focus on others’ faults, rather than our own? Do we obsess over self and image?

These were the thoughts that ran through my head last week. And as a consequence, I decided to embark on a little experiment.

To be continued in Part II: The Experiment.

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leila April 12th, 2008

It started out as a twenty-four hour experiment: did I have enough self-control to not log onto Facebook for one day?

The idea was borne out of several conversations I’d had with friends, one stemming from a recent article published in Newsweek, about sites like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, and YouTube, that this generation of youth use to document their lives online.

Relative to others, I’d thought my interaction with Facebook was minimal. But I’d noticed that, regardless of my infrequent usage, something clicked after I read the article (see previous post).

Social networking sites can be powerful tools. Without Facebook, for example, I wouldn’t be able to catch a daily glimpse of my sister’s life, who lives an ocean apart in San Francisco. Whenever I visit my hometown, it’s the easiest way to reconnect with an old high school friend, whose constant email address changes I can’t keep up with, for our yearly catch-up dinners. A friend in London messaged me on Facebook last week, bouncing off ideas about her master’s thesis.

But the article’s argument resonated with me. The author argues that these sites have cultivated a generation of youth more self-absorbed than those past; that today’s youth are “masters of their own images,” and can compare or scrutinize their images with those of their friends, with remarkable ease.

Facebook gives me a lens into the details of my friends’ and acquaintances’ lives that at times seems a bit too intimate. And sometimes, exposure to those details lead to all sorts of personal tests. When confronted with friends’ behavior that I didn’t agree with, would I judge them? If I saw photos of a party to which I hadn’t been invited, would it sting more than if I had heard about it in passing?

As a Bahá’í, I’ve been raised with the notion of concentrating on refining my own character, rather than dwelling on others’ faults. But I found that I was allowing Facebook invite all sorts of unhelpful habits to my own growth.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Son of Bahá’u’lláh and His appointed successor, was once asked “How shall I overcome seeing the faults of others— recognizing the wrong in others?” He replied:

I will tell you. Whenever you recognize the fault of another, think of yourself! What are my imperfections?—and try to remove them. Do this whenever you are tried through the words or deeds of others. Thus you will grow, become more perfect. You will overcome self, you will not even have time to think of the faults of others…

(Star of the West, Volume 8, No. 10, page 138)

How would I be able to focus on removing my own imperfections, if I couldn’t help but see others’ on Facebook?

And so, one morning, I decided: I wouldn’t visit Facebook for twenty-four hours.

It turned out to be surprisingly easy. So easy, in fact, that a week later, I’ve easily stuck with it. This is what I’ve learned.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks of those who “renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others,” saying:

Whosoever has lost himself, has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof! Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret! The master-key of self-mastery is self-forgetfulness. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation.

(Star of the West, vol. XVII, p. 348)

What was happening, instead—and many of my friends have confessed this themselves—was that, by being exposed to unnaturally intimate details of each others’ lives, with all its ramifications, it was easy to become occupied with the superficial. What I wanted was to retain a sense of “self-forgetfulness,” and to let my thoughts and actions turn more toward “the welfare of others,” rather than be lost, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, in “heedlessness and regret.”

So yes, I may log in to see what photos someone has tagged of my faraway sister, and I’ll send personal messages to friends who contact me. It’s nice to know that my virtual persona still exists out in the ether, for those to find me if they need to. I’ve found that social-networking sites, used in moderation, are incredibly useful.

But what I’ve also discovered is that, by reducing my activity on Facebook, I’ve gradually shifted my thinking. They say ignorance is bliss, and it’s true: ignorance of the minutiae of other people’s lives is a blissful thing, and a completely underrated aspect of our parents’ generation. But it’s also shifted my thoughts to something more positive and productive. Shoghi Effendi eloquently counsels us in this regard:

The more we search for ourselves, the less likely we are to find ourselves; and the more we search for God, and to serve our fellow-men, the more profoundly will we become acquainted with ourselves, and the more inwardly assured. This is one of the great spiritual laws of life.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, February 18, 1954)

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