Abstract
This chapter seeks to show how the society of the digital swarm we live in has changed the way individuals behave to the point that we have become Homo digitalis. These changes occur with information privatization, meaning that not only are we passive consumers, but we are also producers and issuers of digital communication. The overarching argument of this reflection is the disappearance of the “reality principle” in the political, economic, and social spheres. This text highlights that the loss of the reality principle is the effect of microblogging as a digital practice, the uses of which can either impoverish the space of people's experience to undermine the public space or achieve the mobilization of citizens against of the censorship of the traditional means of communication by authoritarian political regimes, such as the case of the Arab Spring in 2011.
TopBackground
According to Serrano-Puche (2015) there are numerous digital devices, especially mobile phones, that affect the daily life of the human being. This author explains the social impact of digital technologies on the identity of individuals. Through the study of tweets, Bollen et al. (2011) conducted a sentiment analysis, which is the analysis of opinions and expressed attitudes as indicators of people's well-being. These researchers correlated journalistic events of a political, social and cultural nature with important changes in moods expressed through tweets (p. 17). In line with this, Zhang et al. (2011) discuss in their research the relationship between the market and retweets. In this study, these authors correlated words such as “hope”, “fear”, “concern” with key words of the economy such as “dollar”, “gold” or “oil”. From a political viewpoint, Tumasjan et al. (2010), Sang and Bos (2012) and Jungherr et al. (2012) investigate sentiment expressed in the microblogging data in order to predict elections. It is important to underline that much of this scholarly work has recognized the contents of microblogging as quarries that contain levels of emotion and both positive and negative feelings. For these researchers microblogging is an indicator that helps mapping the fluctuation of feelings and what an audience expresses. In the context of the Arab Revolution, Jamali (2015) argues that the reactions to messages on the Internet to mobilize people against authoritarian regimes vary according to educational levels. For example, less information-literate citizens were not as critic of those messages and became mere followers of movement leaders; whereas more media-literate people were more moderate and preferred not to make immediate decisions, as opposed to giving “likes” or tagging others.
It is important to note that beyond the previous investigations, which in any case are more empirical and address Internet and microblogging as “given” phenomena, the development of digital technology at the beginning of this century has also sparked studies that debate whether the computer culture, developing Internet and World Wide Web empower citizens with greater freedom of expression or, on the contrary, impoverishes the quality of public discourse. Both critics and optimists raise arguments that either highlight the dangers or emphasize positive aspects of the use of digital technology and the connectivity culture.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Kifaya: Network movement that means “enough” and that had published messages in order to resistance to the Mubarak regime.
Digital Swarm: Particular way in which the current technological society is configured. In this, the individuals are not mass but a cacophony of opposing voices.
Pesedia: Social network dedicated to the prevention and education of children and adolescents about the risks to privacy that social networks entail.
Arab Spring: Dissatisfied mass revolution against the oppression of authoritarian and personalist regimes that dominated for decades the public life of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Hikikomori: Japanese term that describes the attitude of extreme isolation suffered by some people for different reasons, with the corresponding loss of social skills.
Dyschronic: Time without the experience of the duration of the digital world.
Homo Digitalis: Type of subjectivity that has been built through practices and technologies of the digital world.
Principle of Reality: The need ( Ananke ) or what is inevitable because it is unbearable. It also consists in the ability of the human being to adapt to the physical and social environment. The loss of this principle leads to changes for the individual in the political, social, and economic spheres.
Microblogging: Digital practice, usually written, that allows people to send, receive, and post short messages. It also allows users digital self-expression and self-construction, maintaining networks of friends, search for jobs, among others.
Risk: The possibility of the loss of the reality principle and the disappearance of the public man.