New Media and Digital Paranoia: Extreme Skepticism in Digital Communication

Introduction

New media is a domain that can be used with internet technology, and any content can be converted into digital codes. Tools such as “mobile phone, computer, or tablet” are needed to use the internet technologies in new media. This type of media, which includes many areas from news organizations to social networking applications, has many features, including “interaction, asynchrony, spatialization, hyper-textuality, speed, storage, and archiving” (Kahn & Kellner, 2016, p. 254; Lievrouw, 2016, p. 20).

With its features, new media makes people’s lives easier. A person who wants to pay an invoice can make this payment through digital tools instead of physically going to the payment point of the relevant organization. Consumers can also compare the products they are interested in with different stores thanks to e-commerce and choose the most suitable one (Jenkins, 2018, pp. 34-38; Dedeoğlu, 2016, p. 35).

In new media, journalism is conducted with “internet newspapers and internet news sites,” and digital communication is provided with social media applications. Especially with Web 2.0 technology-based social media applications such as Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005), and Twitter (2006), users now create content, share what they produce, and socialize (Lee & Ma, 2012, p. 33). This order, made possible by the internet, can harm users as well as provide benefits for them. These damages are related to economic, social, cultural, and health elements. Internet use causes both physical and psychological health problems, especially in extraordinary times such as pandemics. Not using the computer or mobile devices while spending time on the internet with the right body movements brings along many physical diseases such as “posture disorders, vision-hearing problems, and joint pains” (Kaya & Ata, 2019, p. 113).

While these physical diseases can be noticed quickly since psychological conditions cannot be observed, both diagnosis and treatment might be delayed (Batu & Güler-İplikçi, 2018, p. 641). These conditions can only be noticed when people begin to live in such a way that some symptoms cannot be denied, ignored and hurt, or by the attention of their environment. Although different treatment methods depend on the type of conditions caused by the use of the internet in general and the use of new media in particular, “conscious and responsible use” is an important issue in preventing all new media conditions (Çömlekçi & Başol, 2019, p. 184)

In this study, the concept of digital paranoia both as a psychological internet condition and a result of internet conditions tending to become more widespread is discussed. The research also discusses “definition, possible causes, symptoms, and consequences of digital paranoia” used to express “extreme skepticism” in the digital environment. In the limitation of being a relatively new and up-to-date phenomenon, the theoretical information obtained through literature review was exemplified from daily life. Such questions of “Can someone spy on me through my computer camera? Is my phone listening to me? Is there a problem with my online order?” can be listed as some examples of digital paranoia. Besides, questions like “Did my e-mail reach the person I sent it to? Did I safely log out of the site I used? Did I enter the amount of money correctly in money transfer? Is my information in new media safe? Do other users dislike my social media post?” are just a few examples of digital paranoia that occupy users’ minds.