introspection and satisfaction

i was reading over in Ong the ideas about how writing and the literary age have caused introspectivity that was never present before in the oral culture. it is then quite obvious to me that the mentality created by this introspectivity is where the root of much of today's emotional problems come from. something of a pandoras box. by opening ourselves to this in depth inspection of who we are, or by creating this desire to do so that wasn't there before, literary lifestyles have helped to create the person who is unsatisfyied with themself, the chronically depressed person. these conditions did exisist before, but are enhanced by this new kind of inward examination. much like the idea that television has made the poorer societies in the world want more. for example, in Africa some of the small agricultural communities were happy with their lifestyle and what they had until they saw on television what they could have. it drastically changed the way they saw themselves (now poor- then happy) and the satisfaction they had with their lives.

*loves*