[Air-L] Defining 'digital age'

[Charles M. Ess]

and let me make your life more complicated.

Since 2000 or so, there has been - at first, nominal - use of the notion 
of "post-digital": first in music aesthetics but now 14 - 17 years later 
it's becoming increasingly common (David Berry, Berry and Fagerjord, 
Simon Lindgren) as a way of signaling _not_ some sort of "anti-digital" 
era, but rather, in effect, we've gotten over the all but exclusive 
fascination with and focus on "the digital."  Especially as "the 
digital" often implies some sort of exclusion of the analogue (yes, I 
know the distinction is contested, perhaps useless in some contexts) - 
post-digital implies a somewhat more balanced / comprehensive attention 
of the offline / online / onlife aspects of the lifeworld that are not 
reducible to "the digital".
I find the notion important in any number of ways - starting 
pedagogically.  Why have Apple, Microsoft, Lenovo, et al rather suddenly 
been intent on selling us styli and pencils to play and work with?  In 
part because novelty helps generate sales (color me skeptical ...) - but 
also in part as some decade or so of research shows some advantages in 
learning and thinking when we activate more of the body and thus the 
brain with a pencil or stylus.  I also see more and more scepticism 
regarding exclusive use of tablets, starting in kindergarten, etc.

Post-digital also applies to social robots (including sexbots): unlike 
the virtual assistants that may be perfectly functional in non-embodied 
ways, any number of social robots (including sexbots as well as any 
number of previously developed sex toys under the name of 
tele-dildonics) depend on mimicking embodied forms of human communication.

"Digital detox" along with (disconnected) mindfulness are no longer just 
the vocabulary of cranky old men (guilty) - but are growth industries, 
most especially in techno-optimistic communities and cultures.

And then there's the good old fashioned and re-surging analogue world of 
vinyl records, film - and board games, with sales in the US up some 27% 
in 2017.

Perhaps most importantly, following the euphoria over the (mislabeled) 
"Twitter Revolutions" and "Facebook Revolutions" of the putative Arab 
Springs in 2011 - the Arab Winters set in with a vengeance by 2013; in 
part as it because clear that digitally-centered activism is perhaps a 
necessary but by no means sufficient condition for significant political 
change.
There's a wealth of work in these directions by many of the most 
prominent folk on this list. I have also found Merlyna Lim's 
observations and conclusions from her 10-year longitudinal studies to be 
most helpful here: successful protests – ones that further lead to 
enduring political and social change – depend not solely on social 
media: in addition, “the human body” is “the most essential and central 
instrument” in what she characterizes as “Hybrid 
human-communication-information networks that include social media” 
(2018: 129).

Again, none of this (along with some other examples) entails 
"anti-digital" - but it does suggest to me that "digital" as a term for 
describing / defining our era for analytical and philosophical purposes 
is just not adequate.

But I may be wrong.  You see, you hear these funny voices in the tower 
of song... (Leonard Cohen)

still, I hope this might be nominally helpful.  And good luck!
- charles ess


On 02/03/2019 17:30, Livingstone,S wrote:
> Maybe a helpful starting point? https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2015/05/26/why-label-our-time-and-life-digital/
> 
> Best, Sonia
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of anna conover
> Sent: 02 March 2019 15:50
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: [Air-L] Defining 'digital age'
> 
> Dear fellow AOIR members,
> 
> I am writing about education in the digital age but I'm having a hard time pinning down a definition of the extremely broad term 'digital age'. Does anyone have any leads?
> 
> Very broadly, I am most interested in the challenges posed by globally circulating discourses when we think that these discourses are 'nourished'
> only by certain voices and that meaning is constructed contextually.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Anna
> Doctoral Candidate
> Teachers College - Columbia University
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> 
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> 
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
> 

-- 
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
University of Oslo
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>

Postboks 1093
Blindern 0317
Oslo, Norway
c.m.ess at media.uio.no