1.
In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.
Each of Debord’s theses is in reference to one by Karl Marx. His first was a rewritten version of the opening line to a work by Marx, from which we can infer that spectacles refers to the social model we live by as a society. His reference to a society where things are moving away into representation
has predicted the world we now exist in, distracted by consumerism and unreal
things.
This made me further consider the age-old argument that cell phones have made us antisocial
. A technology that was designed to allow us the spectacular ability to communicate at any time with anyone, no matter where they are, has decreased the amount of quality in-person time we spend together.
We create and adopt systems and devices that, by nature, increase the amount of time we spend alone, and then are marketed more products to make us feel less alone. This is based on the sociological concept of "Lonely Crowds", which was a study on the American human character.
28.
The econonomic system founded on isolation is a circular production of isolation. The technology is based on isolation, and the technical process isolates in turn. From the automobile to television, all the goods selected by the spectacular system are also its weapons for a constant reinforcement of the condidtions of isolation of "lonely crowds." The spectacle constantly rediscovers its own assumptions more concretely.