Tim Lee

Dr. Schuchardt

COMM 243

12 April 2021
Why is a Digital Society so Depressed and Suicidal?

The book, Libido Dominandi, speaks upon how over time in modern society, the elite use

the idea of sexual liberation and advertising to control the people and ultimately break down

democracy in the world. Michael Jones talks about another book we read called Brave New

World, in which he says, "As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends

to compensate for increasing. Sade's claim is related to Huxley's: The best way to make men

unaware of their lack of political freedom is to indulge their sexual passions." This statement is

one which Michael Jones expands upon and argues about how the development of technology

and communication has ultimately allowed the elites to use sexual freedom as a way to take

political and social control over the masses. Using different methods of technology and

communication, those in power can unleash people's sexual desires and passions and then put in

measures that those people must follow, making the elites almost like puppet masters upon

society. One of the great examples Michael Jones uses is the assault of the Catholic Church, the

denomination in which the author is a part of. He writes, "During the '60s, the purpose of sexual

liberation was to convince Catholic women to use contraceptives. During the '90s, the purpose of

sexual liberation was to convince their daughters to masturbate and consume pornography"

(338). Jones believes that because Catholics used to reject this kind of sexual material, those in

power were scared of the power of the Catholic Church, therefore attacking the Catholic's sexual

morality. By doing this, the elites were able to reduce the Catholic population, reducing the

power of the Church.

Tim Lee

Dr. Schuchardt

COMM 243

12 April 2021
In terms of the theme question, I believe that there are countless reasons as to how digital

technology and society have caused depression and suicide. In fact, I believe that digital media

has actually been the main contributor to the spike of depression and suicidal thoughts in people

over the past years. The Child Mind institute did a study on people using social media and found

that "In several recent studies, teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on

Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms were shown to have a substantially (from 13 to 66

percent) higher rate of reported depression than those who spent the least time." The 50%

increase in one is hard to fathom, but the reality is true and scary. I think that the images, stories,

and tweets cause people to get this unsolicited information that can influence their thoughts,

whether it be positive or negative. The sad news is a lot of it is most likely to be negative,

causing the younger audience to constantly be in contact with this kind of material, which

ultimately leads to suicidal thoughts and depression. Libido Dominandi writes about

pornography, which also is a major contributor to depression in digital society. The book talks

about how pornography is flooded into a country, and like a drug, people get hooked on it to the

point where it is like a drug. A study done by recoveryvillage.com found that "With 12% of all

websites being pornographic and one-quarter of all online searches related to sex, porn is as

accessible as it is desired." While many find pornography harmless, the effects of pornography

on the person are undeniable. It causes more sense of guilt and unworthiness in people and is

correlated with depressive symptoms in countless studies. Digital technology has allowed us to

consume good and useful information, but with that, it ultimately has caused most likely billions

of those feelings of depression and sadness.

Tim Lee

Dr. Schuchardt

COMM 243

12 April 2021
I think the question has made me want to be more cautious of how I use technology. For

me, I have a friend who is my accountability partner, so he can see what I am doing on the

internet and call me out if I am using it for things that will only weigh me down. However, it

cannot really regulate my social media apps, so that I think that reducing my screen time and

holding myself to a certain time limit can keep me away from temptation as well as wasting my

time on those apps because I ultimately don't gain much.