Let me start with a well-known quote from Jorge Luis Borges: “Of the various instruments of man, the most amazing is, without a doubt, the book.The others are extensions of his body.The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his sight;the telephone is an extension of the voice;then we have the plow and the spade, extensions of his arm.But the book is something else: the book is an extension of memory and imagination”.On the fringes of Borges' thought, we should ask ourselves about the cell phone: what is the extended corporeality of the cell phone?What human organ or capacity expands with an object that is a film and photo camera, audio recorder and mixer, radio and television, electronic book and word processor, window to the world and panic room, office and bar, mirror and cave, therapist and pornographer, bank and supermarket, confessor and dominatrix, come on, it's even a telephone.What of us and us extends with the cell phone?In an effort to liven up after-dinner conversations, canteen discussions or gossip on social media, I propose the following response: the cell phone, in essence, is an extension of our narcissism.A few months ago I published a text in this same space in which I said that “our day to day is a coming and going from one screen to another: from the cell phone to the tablet, from the laptop to the SmarTV, from a Zoom meeting to a like on Facebook, from an endless discussion on Twitter to a neighborhood agreement on WhatsApp”.Due to this dependence on screens, he pointed out that perhaps we were facing a narcissism of networks or a kind of extension of the body and the psyche that gave rise to the I-Pixel.Now it seems to me that the network narcissism hypothesis is consistent and is affirmed by the centrality of the cell phone in our daily lives.The clearest and most controversial expression that evidences the role of narcissistic expansion played by the cell phone is the proliferation of so-called influencers and the fact that they have become aspirational figures for thousands of people around the world;If the childhood and youthful dreams of previous generations were to become an astronaut, soccer player, film artist, doctor, millionaire or pop singer, the aspirations of a large part of contemporary generations revolve around the maximum accumulation of followers on social networks.And while the aspiration to become an influencer is exclusive to certain and statistically few people, the (self) esteem of many others gravitates around the achievement of followers, the accumulation of as many "likes" as possible and the ratification that we are someone through sharing experiences on social networks.In this way, the digital platforms of social networks, in particular, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and some others that escape me, are full of publications with images of this morning's breakfast, photos with some celebrity (there are many those of the four little fingers with someone from the 4T), of parties and celebrations with lifelong friends, of scathing comments released at the first provocation or precisely to provoke them, images in short of the thousand and one edges that express that our life it is full (or livable, at least) and even makes sense.The image is replicated around the world, daily, every second: millions of people bent over their cell phones, a sign of prostration before the powers in flexible and digital capitalism.Strictly speaking, it doesn't make much difference if the inclination towards the cell phone is to chat with friends, do a banking operation, call a protest, buy an article, navigate in search of lost time, read this article or to organize an insurrection. popular: the fact is that we are subjected to the cell phone, it does not matter what we do it for, the important thing is to stay online, be connected, participate in the digital world, give opinions, criticize, support, disagree, search, publish, read, listen, buy, assist, do, deceive, defer, consult, love, maintain, put, appear, infer, abuse, pray, deny, lie, annul, support... yes, at first it was the verb, it doesn't matter what verb, as long as Let the action be online.About the cell phone, Byung-Chul Han writes: “The mobile phone as an instrument of surveillance and subjugation exploits freedom and communication.In addition, in the information regime, people do not feel watched, but free.Paradoxically, it is precisely the feeling of freedom that ensures domination” (Byung-Chul Han. Infocracy. An exposition of the central ideas of this book can be found in the following video: https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=vgsf2ZUVf4A&ab_channel=ClaudioAlvarezTeran).It is precisely that "feeling of freedom that ensures domination" that serves as a hook to hook us on our most pure narcissism.It is difficult to deny that we find it satisfying to gain followers, to obtain positive reactions (“likes”) to our publications, to show the world the experiences of the most recent trip, the success obtained, our tastes and hobbies, or to generate negative reactions, to encourage criticism and diatribes, to show off our miseries, to lament our existence in the eyes of locals and strangers.Of course, we will regularly try to have positive reactions to our posts in order to strengthen the image of ourselves, of ourselves, and if the comments or reactions do not favor us, they will probably be condemned as arbitrary, absurd, ridiculous or any other qualifier that leaves our image untainted.Thus, the trend is that in social networks we relate to people related to us and us.I insist on the point: it does not matter so much what we publish, what we say or what we remain silent, as long as we are online, prostrated before the cell phone, the tablet or the laptop, that in the end the domination device is the same and it is anchored in the narcissistic expansion of our life experiences.Probably the inflation of digital narcissism is the main sign that marks our times.Thanks to digital narcissism, we provide basic personal information to build the algorithms that decide, for us, the course of our future in the networks.Algorithms have become the navigation chart that we use, unconsciously, in social networks, hence the talk of the dictatorship of algorithms.I recommend to you the following documentary entitled, precisely like that, The dictatorship of the Algorithm.Also, and on the subject, let me recommend the following book that you can download by clicking on this link: Algorithms.From the quoted text I recover the following idea from Christian Ingo Lenz Dunker that perfectly synthesizes the meaning of digital narcissism: “In the social media environment, even if you know that your message has reached ten or fifteen people, the narcissistic illusion is that we are speaking to the world, and that “everyone is listening to what we say”.Perhaps, without the narcissistic illusion, the social networks would come crashing down and with it, the extractivist digital capitalism of data and information.Do we dare to abandon social networks?Or the very idea of ​​that possibility represents a narcissistic blow that we are not in a position to accept.What do you think?It is a critical and independent digital communication medium.At Windbreaker TV we give strong coverage to the precarious situation suffered by millions of people in Mexico as a result of the violence, insecurity, corruption and impunity that have prevailed in our country in recent six-year terms.Rompiento TV is broadcast on open television in seven states of the United States of America.Learn about our: Privacy Policy.1. 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