Consumer Products = Tangible Narcissism

       In "Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts," Franzen claims that technology and consumer products keep people from having an actual life, especially loving relationships; therefore people need to flock towards what causes painful emotions. Consumer products are like narcissistic people because they are manufactured "to be immensely likable" (Franzen 1). They and social networks, like Facebook, cause humans to live as narcissists because humans are focused much more on themselves and what they "like". When it's time to truly love someone, it's impossible to like all of them so you will destroy your  likable image of a person during arguments. "Something realer than likability has come out in you, and suddenly you're having an actual life" (Franzen 2). Then, Franzen explains that love will cause pain, but it will be easier to cope with and embrace when the pain is due to what you love. 

       Towards the end of his essay, Franzen describes how he came to love birds by looking for wrong in the world. The way in which he learned something about man through his experiences with nature is what Emerson conveyed in his essay, "Nature." Franzen wasn't necessarily looking to learn something about man from nature or forcing himself to think about nature's creation or harmony, but he was really wanting to find something wrong with the world to deal with his pain. "My anger and pain and despair about the planet were only increased by my concern for wild birds, and yet, as I began to get involved in bird conservation and learned more about the many threats that birds face, it became easier, not harder, to live with my anger and despair and pain" (Franzen 3). Here Franzen connects truth about a connection between nature and man, like a transcendentalist, to learn about love between men and the way love works.

Would Franzen recommend getting rid of all social networking to those who support his claims?