Similarities Between Alone Together And The Great Gatsby

As a species, we have made more technological advancements than ever at any point in history, finding ways to communicate when we once never would have been able to, and yet we are not any less lonely than we previously were. “Alone Together” by Sherry Turkle, who obtained her PhD in sociology and gave a ted talk called “Connected but Alone”, goes into more depth about this. This is also shown in The Great Gatsby, which depicts a man who appears to be surrounded by many, and yet secretly loafs in solitude. One thing that both “Alone Together” and Great Gatsby clearly express- people tend to isolate themselves due to dissatisfaction with their current reality.

Humans are constantly seeking to escape their current reality, unsatisfied with

Drinking relates to romanticized expectations because alcohol gives its inhabitants a skewed perception of reality, like when Nick first attended one of Gatsby’s parties. He was drunk then, and he remembered looking around him and thinking that this party was how life should be lived, as the liquor was tainting his perception of his surroundings. Later when he had sobered up he had a completely different reaction, thinking of the parties as unpleasant and oppressive. With the alcohol Nick was living in a sort of obliviousness that heightened his feelings towards his surroundings, and in the absence of it he seemed somber, but more aware. Similarly, technology does this by offering up filtered content that people immerse themselves with, which causes us to think of some people almost like ethereal beings placed on earth. A perfect example of human’s tendencies for

It seems that humans would rather live in blissful ignorance than bleak truth. They would forgo spending time in their actual lives because the dopamine rush of the tainted one is too compelling for them to ignore. It is because they prefer immediate results over longtime rewards that they tend to bar themselves from one another, preferring the altered versions of themselves to communicate with other altered people. Many would say that they prefer honesty in others even if the truth is worse, but that seems pretty hypocritical because the first people they tend to lie to are themselves.In both Great Gatsby and in our current society, people tend to build their image to what they deem they ought to be rather than who they really are, and distance themselves from others to prevent them from finding out the truth beneath the hidden layers of their perceived image. In Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby himself does this by taking advantage of his wealth and status, and spinning it around to build a reputation that precedes him. In our current world, we often wield social media to our advantage, using filters to make ourselves look better in photos, showing off expensive items to make it seem like we have more than