“Liking is for Cowards, Go for what hurts” is an essay written by Jonathan Franzen who is an American novelist and writer of essays. This essay is based on the speech he gave at Kenyon College in the state of Ohio in USA. And in May 2011 it was published in The New York Times.
What this essay is about is, is the differences there are between the love people have for consumers technology and real life. “Liking” probably comes from the social website, Facebook, which is mentioned as ”commercial culture’s substitute for loving”, and shows the obsession with the smartphones, internet and other things that helps the construction of our façades, an obsession that probably is more dangerous than its good. Some of the things that damage us are the emotions and feelings, and these are quite capable of making a lot of people scared, and because of this they would rather hide behind the screen, where they hide themselves from to the world and its problems. He believes that people wants the consumer technology, is because that it might give them some different methods to keep them happy without asking for anything more, but it will give you everything which is in contrast to relationships with people you might love. There are plenty of good quotes to look at, for example “To speak more generally, the ultimate goal of technology, is to replace a natural world that’s indifferent to our wishes (..) With a world so responsive to our wishes as to be, effectively, a mere extension of the self”, this means that technology will replace the requirement of our presence in the world. Jonathan Franzen’s method of catching the eye of the audience is very interesting and quite creative. He talks about his Blackberry phone in such a way that it might have been his girlfriend, this way of talking makes it very catchy and relevant for the younger generation, because many of them have known “love” and they know