The child as the hostage of the Tik Tok challenges: A critical reading to the manifestations of fame and the transformations of the ego
This study aims at shedding light on a reality perceived by everyone, where they are actors and subjects, that is the dominance of the modern communication technology that surrounds us from all the angles through its outlets that include smart phones, tablets, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, email, online meetings, online trade…etc. Undeniably, this technology facilitates many life burdens though technology in our country is still not that developed as the other countries. However, this paper looks to the issue from another perspective that the Australian computer scientist Margaret Bale called “the moral horror of communication technology”. In this context, she sees that the communication technology that causes the moral horror is subject to three rules that are: it changes our relation with time, space, and the others. The successive studies proved that this technology affected even the relation of the individual with his ego when he adopted “a digital ego”. The speech about a moral horror in a Western environment differs from speaking about an environment that is bound with the rules of the group/tribe/patriarchy which shape the styles of thinking and behavior. This environment now finds itself in front of a technology that glorifies individualism and deepens the gap between the individual and his society, and the individual and his ego. In addition, it incites him to revolt against the societal established norms (Laayadi, 2015). Based on what has been said, we find ourselves obliged to grapple with a paramount question that is: what shall we do if our children turned into a content that is shared via social media (Tik Tok particularly), a way to make profits, or a tool to attract the advertisers? What shall we do if we gave our children to big international companies to sell them to the marketing and advertising companies? In this line, this paper aims at understanding what Tik Tok and the other social media do to our children and shed light on the transformations of the ego