IJSP Number 6, 2024

89 to be. The only reasonable refuge from paradoxical injunctions or situations is in the more comforting space offered by a psychotic decupling from the world. It is sufficient to look how people are talking to their cell phones – while they have the impression that they talk to someone on the other end of the line – or having the strong impression that whatever they see in their little screen has to be real. Once we realize that, we inevitably arrive at the conclusion that they must be decupled, most of the time, from reality in order to indulge in that sort of virtual involvement offered by the ubiquitous and inescapable screens. On the other hand, if we look from their side to the same phenomenon, we should also take into account the mirror function of that magical little screen. What one can permanently see in the reflection of that wonderful little screen is one’s own image – a perfect little pool for every contemporary Narcissus. More than that, this image of oneself is continuously feed by: ‘likes’, ‘emojis’, ‘shares’, and a constant and everlasting communicational stream of exchanges between all those ‘other’ mirroring narcissus-es on the parade of our contemporary world. As such, we can totally agree with Dan Lyons when he specifies: “Technology should be a tool in the service of mankind, but sometimes it seems that humans are made subordinate to technology. And sometimes new technology that is supposed to make us more efficient or more productive instead slows us down and drives us nuts.” And, just to conclude about the little screens, he continues: “Thanks to technology, we work longer hours, tethered to mobile devices and the ubiquitous Internet that enable us to be on call at all times, expected to return emails at night and on weekends and to work wherever we might be.”.” [8] But then, after all, why do we not see the bright side: the effect of that little screen – our own mobile device – through which every Narcissus, large or small, young or middle aged, male or female, can project their own self-importance to the whole world? Considering the powers of contemporary technology, the image of Narcissus we are speaking of, is not one singular image anymore, but it multiplies in thousands and even millions of images, easily multipliable ad infinitum by the power of a calculating machine. As such, Narcissus is in fact diminished in millions of mini Narcissus-es, nothing more, nothing less, than mere pixels on a screen near other millions of mini Narcissus-es. We see that even the importance of self-importance can be counterfeited by modern technology which will do its computations of computations to enhance that what every contemporary citizen believes they want and need more than air, more than water or food. Because once the first (lower) levels of Maslow’s hierarchy are satisfied, there are the third and fourth that remain kind of open and needy. But that is not a big issue anymore as the mobile devices and the limitless access to the internet have found the ideal solution for those needs. As Abraham Maslow emphasized, there is a little problem with the needs for esteem and respect, namely: