Final Essay: Mediating Objects

DUE MONDAY 5/14 by 11:59pm

(40% of your grade)

Throughout his work, but especially in Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud argues that the "program of the pleasure
principle" involves both the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of unpleasure, even as pleasure remains unattainable
and unpleasure unavoidable. With this in mind, write an essay on how Freud might help you understand how and why
you use your iPhone [or your preferred networked mobile device].

How might you articulate the unconscious motivations undergirding a few narrowly specified examples of
how/when/where/why you use your phone?
How might you use what you have learned in this class to elaborate the intrapsychic dynamics and conflicts (in terms of
the ego, id, and super-ego) of being a user of this technology?

Suggestions:

The following are possible approaches to this question. You are welcome (and encouraged) to pursue your own.

1. Wish Fulfillment: Much of the rhetoric around this technology is written in the language of wish fulfillment
– we are promised “on-demand,” “instant,” and “24/7” access to content (and each other). How does
psychoanalysis help us to think critically about the instantaneity and ubiquity of connectivity as cultural
fixations? In other words, can we recognize and analyze the unconscious dimension of these fantasies?

2. Object Loss: The screen shattered. You left it in a cab. You dropped it in the toilet. You are stuck on the
subway in a tunnel with no service. How can you elaborate and explain this feeling?

3. Surveillance: We know that our data is being logged (and sold for profit). We know that email accounts and
photo streams are hacked and the contents are leaked. We know that future employers might one day see
this. We know that neither privacy nor anonymity is guaranteed. And yet we continue to ______ anyway.
How does psychoanalysis help us to explain this?

Expectations:

Write a cogent and illuminating final paper that demonstrates how you are thinking. This is your opportunity to reflect
on what you have learned this semester.

You are not being asked to argue a position or defend an opinion. You are being asked to sustain and elaborate your
thoughts. Think in terms of “both/and” contradictions (e.g., How does a particular use of your iPhone both regulate
and produce anxiety?).

Be as specific as possible. Make every effort to avoid generalities. If what you are writing sounds like something you
have read or heard elsewhere, pause and ask yourself how you can think with what you have learned in this course to
think through these often reiterated presuppositions. How can you call them into question? How else might we be
thinking about this?

Format:

Your essay must be single-spaced with quarter-inch margins in eleven-point Times and take up no more or less than
one page.

Etc.

As always, if you have any questions at all please make an appointment to see me or send me an email (well in advance
of the due date!).