Jaques Lacan was a French Psychoanalyst and his famous theory called “the mirror stage” was enlightening.
Lacan’s “the mirror stage” was to understand how the child processes his image in the mirror. The process moves the imaginary to symbolic and finally moves into the real. A child was born prematurely and depended on the caring of his mother or caregiver. The child depended purely on his biological relationship with his mother due to his personal needs. At this stage the child feels his mother and him as one. This situation slowly slips away once the child enters into the language.
We all know, animals can identify their images in the mirror but don’t proceed further but the child can find a division in himself. The double it sees in the mirror helps the child to experience a separate identity. Actually, the mirror image gives identification to the child. The child’s awareness of its identity can slowly differentiate his double in the mirror. Normally, Before seeing the mirror, the child can only experience fragmentation of moving hands, head, legs etc of his movement and but cannot visualise as a whole. But, the image in the mirror gives the sign of completion as a whole. Now, the most astonishing thing is the child learns to experience the double in the mirror as “Other”. The beauty is the child learns to identify as “I” and the concept of “other” from the mirror before it learns to apply the ‘others’ to mother, caretaker, things…
The child became excited to see the double in the mirror as complete, even though the child still struggled for his movement.The mirror image gives a new experience of self-called “l” the subject; the beauty was this was happening, prior to the knowledge of knowing the “identification of object” in relation with others. It’s the language which enters at the latter stage helps the child to give a meaning of subject and object..
This stage is more of an identification of “ideal I” in the mirror (also called ‘ideal ego)’. Lacan says this form is situated in the agency known as ego. The child recognises the “I” prior to the social recognition in a fictional form and stays unconsciously in the formation of “subject”. The mirror image gives some power of identity though it looks like an outline but inside the child still feel in Fragments. The mirror image gives a link to his species and gives a formation of “l” that helps the child to create his own world.
The image reflected in the mirror was enough for the child to get manifest of certain psychological traits.. Any organism cannot manifest or mature without any biological experience
Example, a female pigeon only can experience its maturation by seeing another pigeon irrespective of the sex. But the same can be experienced by exposing the mirror reflective field placed nearby to the individual. Lacan further explains, in the case of migratory locust. There is a shift in his behaviour though they are solitary in nature may turn to gregarious form by getting identified by the mass population of its own species and behave collectively. This is even possible by exposing the individual to the visual experience of the moving images of its own species. And this is sufficient for an individual to understand the characteristics of its own species.
The formation of the Subject and Object in the child brings hate because the perceived image (his double) in the mirror is so complete and better than himself. Now the child is divided between subject and the object (of his double) and the object becomes symbolic and tries his lifetime to become the object. Here, there is a problem. The subject was to become an object but the object doesn’t desire to become subject. We all have failed in trying to become an object; this was never going to get fulfilled till our death.
Entry into social networks and posting our images and waiting for validation for like, love, share..etc was the extension of mirror stage syndrome. The waiting for the validation of his individual image post tells us we have a fundamental desire of narcissism and love to have a perfect image and self,
Finally, the Real is, the image we want to represent the one we see in the mirror (the ideal ego) was not attainable because it is false. The perceived image is in fact not real but a mere reflection. Hence trying to become an object was not possible. The process of getting identified as an object will never going to happen and this will lead to anger, disappointment and creates constant sense of lack. That’s why Social Network brings more disappointment than happiness and constantly put you in anxiety..