Estrangement and introversion

[Kyriakos]

Estrangement from the external world, technology, or community, along with introversion as a result, has long been main themes of early modern literature.
Do you think they will stick around perpetually? I am of the view that the estrangement is here to stay, and infact become even worse.
In a space of little over 100 years mankind went from horse and carriage to airplanes and then the internet. Anyone who has read some ancient literature realizes arguably that at that time people were more able to examine in depth their immediate relations and surroundings. Perhaps mostly because those relations were less numerous on the surface.

My own literature is definately one of estrangement and introversion. Usually in my stories the protagonists are lost in metaphorae, symbolism, fail to live in the external world with their senses and instead seek to categorically intellectualize their life, with often hiddeous costs to their wellbeing.

I often wonder though if most of the reading public relates to this. Most people do appear to want to stay to a surface, because that seems to be less dangerous. It may indeed be less dangerous, but i think that it is a bit like having a fire burning below you; you may stay safe from it by going upwards, to the surface, but the fire still burns, and inevitably you sense the fumes, and one day it will reach you. But maybe this parallelism is wrong, since life on the surface is mostly sensual (sense-driven), so negates thought.

Anyway i wanted to start this topic to ask you what you think of estrangement, and if it can be combatted with something.

 

[kochman]

Sure, the reading public should be into this topic... reading is an introverted act, at the base of it.

It is a fascinating phenomenon how, with the advent of smart phones, even public occasion often end up resorting to people sharing pictures from their phone or someone's facebook post... I think it is unfortunate, a turning away from potential meaningful conversation, an easy out.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think that we were not ready for the internet. Nor for pretty much all else. I try not to project too much, but really how many people actually examine how they realize an object, in the nearly countless relations it has with symbols and metaphors? If you are bombarded with objects you are bound to stay in the surface to observe the shooting stars. But this leads to being estranged sooner or later. "Some time the scenery collapses" as is written in Camus' L Etranger.

 

[GenMarshall]

One does not need to look far, even some of the younger generation (mines included), prefer texting each other instead of face to face conversations.

 

[Kyriakos]

Maybe because texting is a less personal action than communicating face to face. But i agree that it also has to some degree to do with upbringing with computer games. I am part of that generation that was exposed to computer games early on (for me when i was 8 i had my first computer), and its immediate effect was that i went less and less outside to play with the other kids.