The ephemeral and the concrete

Planned obsolescence was created in the 1920s by the then president of General Motors, Alfred Sloan. A product is purposefully developed and manufactured for consumption in a way that it becomes obsolete in a short period of time, inducing the consumer to replace it. In technology, companies like Apple and Microsoft are commonly remembered for adopting this business strategy in their products and operating systems.

I remember that by law, at the time I worked in the electronics area, the industry had the period in which it was obliged to maintain components for products to be reduced from 12 to 9 years, and that had already shocked me at that time; They were from the 80’s. Today, a shelf life of 2 years is recommended…

In addition, a frantic expansion of disposables: diapers, plates, cups, straws…. Junk food with souvenirs that break soon…. Disposable…

According to a new study from the University of Kansas, published in the journal Personal Relationships, the mentality that objects are disposable extends to social bonds.
“We found a correlation between the way you look at objects and perceive their relationships,” said lead author Omri Gillath, an associate professor of psychology.

He said his current study points to a mobile society characterized by availability, which tends to promote superficiality about deeper human relationships.
“We are suggesting that this is a broad phenomenon where we all tend to look at relationships with co-workers, friends and social network members as replaceable.
He said such attitudes affect the overall quality of people’s lives and our society. “Research suggests that only deeper, high-quality bonds provide us with the kind of support we need, such as love, understanding and respect,” Gillath said. “You need these very close bonds to feel safe and function properly. If social ties are considered disposable, you are less likely to get what you need from your network, which can negatively affect your mental and physical health, as well as your longevity. ”

Many generations were born with this practice in vogue. As if this practice were the “natural” context. That is to say, as expressed by Jung, such phenomena have by now been incorporated by the collective unconscious; and its manifestation can be identified in several areas.

Today behaviors and relationships are manifested within this premise of transience and volatility. We live in an environment that does not recognize interdependence and interaction; today, the institutionalized premise is that what is new is what is good and it is necessary to be at the forefront, having the most “innovative” there is; The way in which relationships and difficulties are dealt with today shows this picture of deterioration where nothing is consolidated.

This lifestyle does not include pleasant conversation and excludes the presence just to be together, makes it difficult or even prevents the sharing of values and interests by the members of a family focused on the youngest. Liquid life, as Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish sociologist, says.

The feeling of abandonment settled and deepened in the parents, not so old. A large number of children are no longer welcome, elderly parents are not well tolerated and all this costs a lot, financially, materially and psychologically speaking. But this behavior was not the only one in this sphere of orphan parents. Children would be being raised by TV, by the producers of a technology that fascinates them on the one hand, but incapacitates them, on the other hand, for many functions of everyday life, since it weakens the will, eliminates the force of fantasy and the power of imagination. creative imagination, dampening certain capacities for learning and discernment, as well as your abilities for real human communication.

There is a high rate of absences from scheduled appointments (personal or professional); untimely breakup of relationships, among others, demonstrating the fragile importance of these facts in life. A huge and terrible existential trap was collectively set up, as if no one needed anyone else.

Today almost no one is willing to suffer for something that didn’t work out. This suffering helps us to grow, not to make the same mistakes. This discarding of previously important values occurs; therefore, the conditions have presented changes in less time than necessary to consolidate habits, routines and customs. There is no time for learning. Much less to fix, correct.

Discarding is the keynote. “Try another one” is a lot of advice heard in relationship endings. Or as soon as a relationship ends, flirting with another person begins, as if it would somehow ease the pain of the breakup. Totally in line with the obsolescence mentality.

I remember a meme that circulated recently, where there is a photo of a couple celebrating their golden anniversary and they ask: what is the secret of being together for so long and happy? To which the couple responds: Ah… in our time when something broke, we had to fix it….

Today, the only solid and perennial thing is garbage, which expands, accumulates and remains one of the biggest problems on the planet. I am referring here not only to material garbage, but to the spiritual and psychological garbage resulting from this behavior where everything becomes obsolete very quickly. The relationship is quick and ephemeral and discards depth, development, commitment and mutual knowledge.

According to Jung, in his book: Abreaction, Analysis of Dreams and Transference: “The human being who is not attached to another, has no totality, because this is only achieved by the soul, and this, in turn, cannot exist. without the other side that is always in the “you”. Wholeness consists of a combination of the I and the you, both manifesting as parts of a transcendent unity”… (454). And it follows on aspects of contemporary drama: “The other of ourselves is always something strange and difficult to bear. But if we are willing to put up with it, we will conquer one more step in self-knowledge”. (918). But at what time?
And who is willing to get out of their egocentrism, so publicized as a greater value?

And Jung elsewhere states: “The chaos and disorder of the world are similarly reflected in the mind of the individual, but this lack of orientation is compensated in the unconscious by the archetypes of order… in the same situation it was in when the first war ended. It became quite clear that the vast majority are incapable of integrating the forces of order. On the contrary, it even seems likely that these forces inadvertently assault conscience and violently launch themselves against our will.”

Despite this panorama, in his book, Present and Future, he points out a possibility of integration: “As a social being, man cannot remain disconnected from society for long. Therefore, the individual can only find his right to exist and his autonomy, both moral and spiritual, in an extra-World principle, capable of relativizing the extremely dominating influence of external factors.

In order to materialize this resistance, he needs the transcendent evidence of his inner experience, as this is the only possibility to protect himself from massification. Its transcendent evidence is populated by mythical representations that, with their characteristic symbolism, reach the depths of the human soul, because they speak of a language that mobilizes and makes the human being’s depths vibrate. Today, in the consumer society, in the discard society, rich, deep and lasting relationships and the exploration of your own internal world with all its idiosyncrasies are treasures to be rescued.

References:

  • JUNG, CG. Civilization in Transition. Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro; Voices. 2013
  • JUNG, CG. Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious Petropolis, RJ; Voices 2013
  • JUNG, CG. Present and Future, Petrópolis, RJ; Voices 2013
  • JUNG, CG. Aspects of Contemporary Drama, Petrópolis, RJ; Voices 2013
  • JUNG, CG. Abreaction, dream analysis and transference Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro; Voices 2013
  • BAUMAN, Z. Liquid Modernity, Rio de Janeiro; Jorge Zahar Ed., 2001
  • University of Kansas February 22, 2016 – Disposable relationships: Throwaway culture can include friendships, researcher says

Leave A Comment