Concurrent Session 2 – A Profile Is Not a Self: A Buddhist Critique of Privilege and Power in the Construction of Social Media Platforms

Taking as our starting point the appropriation of Buddhist principles such as “mindfulness” by Silicon Valley organizations, this paper outlines a normative framework for the critique of constructions of the self in online platforms, with a primary emphasis on Facebook. Through an analysis of public statements from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, we highlight tensions between the particular constructions of the self afforded by Facebook’s platform and Buddhist understandings of the self as articulated by Ron Purser, David Loy, and James Austin. We argue that Zuckerberg’s pronouncements about privacy, sharing, openness, and connectivity represent an ideological view of the self that reflects issues of power and privilege pervasive among Silicon Valley organizations — namely, the role of marketing and data collection in constraining users’ experience and exacerbating social and economic inequality. We conclude by outlining strategies for addressing these issues of privilege and power at both individual and institutional levels.