[WRIT IUD Critical Analysis Assignment #1 Fall 2022 For this assignment, you are to write a critical analysis Essay in relation to Emerson Csorba's \"Dnline Sharing and SelfiEs Erode the Value of Our Private Lives\" (below). Please read the article carefully. Once you have read and understood it, please write a critical analysis that evaluates the success of the article's argument. Your essay should have an introduction that sets out your thesis (one that indicates whether the argument is successful), supporting paragraphs that begin with topic sentences and that develop your thesis, and a conclusion. Be sure that your writing is carefully organized, clear and coherent, and free from mechanical error. This essay is worth 10% of your final grade. Online Sharing and Selfies Erode the Value of Our Private Lives Emerson ICsorba The New York Times 28 November 2016 About a year ago, I attended a meeting in Geneva focused on gathering 450 "changemakers" to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges. I thought the participants would emerge with new relationships and perspectives on complex issues such as poverty and climate change. But very little meaningful conversation took place. Instead, participants spent the summit glued to their phones, taking selfies and sharing on Facebook their posts usually accompanied by inspirational quotes and messages on how grateful they were to be included in this group of leaders. [1) This EXpEFiEl'lCE is reprEsentative of a values shift taking plaCE in sodety toward coHCEpts such as authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability. Arthur C. Brooks, of the American Enterprise Institute, describes this shift through what Jean-Jacques Rousseau called "amour gig o__i" to an "amour-progre'\"; that is, individuals partake less in activities for the sake of activities' intrinsic worth than for their use in satisfying others. Indeed, it is virtually impossible to spend time on social media without coming across friends sharing random thoughts, requests for advice and updates on personal relationships. Although heartfelt, the authenticity of these activities is often suspect, often more an attempt to curate a particular image than an expression of a person's actual beliefs and convictions. (2) We Celebrate this behavior, and see it modeled by many of society's leaders. As a Canadian, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau comes to mind. RECently named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and appearing on the cover of g as the \"Prime Minister of Suave," Trudeau is active on Instagram and is considered by many to be the sort of open and authentic leader that we need in the world. Trudeau's visit to the White House, for instance, was accompanied by numerous \"candid" Instagram photos and clever hashtags with the Obamas. Among these, a photo of the Trudeau and Dbama families captioned "Meeting the neighbours,'r and a second with Trudeau in black tie, tagged #StateDinner. Though [this was] an important meeting between Canada and the United States, the Trudeau Instagram feed was at times more suggestive of a Vanity Fair shoot than a serious gathering between national leaders. (3) In our digital world, it comes as no surprise that these posts play such a central role in our lives, and that carefully curated social media images and comments gain such traction. But I cannot help but wonder what it is that we lose in the process of sharing so much of ourselves publicly. Social media "likes" and new followers provide us with public approval, but this need for constant sharing of ourselves and the immediate gratification that comes with it diminishes the meaning and significance in the things we share. (4) Lost in the online sharing and advice-gathering is the ability to reect on questions ourselves, coming to our own decisions in whatever amount of time is required. In her book \"How to Be Alone," philosopher Sarah Maitland wonders how it is that in a world that glorifies the individual, we have become so afraid of spending time alone. And she is right: Our digital lives favor public image at the expense of private reection. (5} When it is possible to share widely, the approval we gain from followers leads us to forget that something even could be private, and moreover, that some parts of our lives are worth keeping private. Indeed, our digital connections might increase the ease in sharing certain parts of ourselves, but we must ask whether these are things better worth protecting. (6} Arnour d3; _o__i: \"Amour de- 521, for [philosopher J ean-J acques] Rousseau, describes a healthy love of self that is natural to all human beings.\" {Hammond Political Theory: an Encyclopedia of Contemporary and Classic Terms 19) * Amour-progre: \"Amour progre [for Rousseau] is a vain self-absorption. . .and produces a dependency on the assessment of others for one's sense of self. \" [Hammond Political Theory: an Encyclopedia of Contemporary and Classic Terms 19)