Detrimental Impact of Digital Technology in Helen Schulman’s This Beautiful Life

Abstract

This thesis aims at exposing the detrimental effect of excessive reliance on digital technology in Helen Schulman'sThis Beautiful Life.The harsh psychological effect of digital technology is examined in relation toThisBeautiful Life. Any idea of clinging to the normal, the normative and the moderate is nauseous to Jake and Daisy. He does not see the boundary between the normal and the abnormal. Sodomy, homosexuality, masturbatory practice and various other peripheral sexualities can be found in Jake’s search for new sexuality which ultimately puts his life to a disastrous end. Extreme dissatisfaction and inherent inability compel him to dissimulate his innermost foibles and shortcomings. Inwardly he is trapped in the rigid confines of life on cyber space. To come out of his arid mercantile life, he concocts violent fantasies. They are separated apart when Jake wakes up one morning after an unattended party and finds an email in his in-box from an eighth-grade admirer. Attached is a sexually explicit video she has made for him. She forwards the video to a friend, who then forwards it to a friend. Within hours, it's gone viral, all over the school, the city, the world.