{"id":4222,"date":"2011-08-23T11:20:14","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T15:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/?p=4222"},"modified":"2011-08-23T11:34:30","modified_gmt":"2011-08-23T15:34:30","slug":"fear-and-the-digitalactual-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/2011\/08\/23\/fear-and-the-digitalactual-split\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear and the Digital\/Actual Split"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During my short time in Vegas I listened to and partook, in many formal, informal, academic and recreational conversations about technology and social media. This often resulted in debates over the digital\/actual split (or lack thereof). \u00a0Those who espoused the digital\/actual split did so with a clear privileging of the \u201cactual\u201d (i.e. physical). \u00a0This debate is in line with much of the work done on this blog, and in particular with a few recent comment threads (especially here<\/a>, but also here<\/a>). In response to this, I\u2019ve devised a list of reasons why this split is so vehemently maintained by some, and why the digital is de-valued.<\/p>\n

This de-valuing is rooted, I believe, in a series of fears. These fears include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Social isolation<\/li>\n
  2. Loss of communication and interpersonal skills<\/li>\n
  3. Loss of attention span<\/li>\n
  4. Loss of emotional connection<\/li>\n
  5. A contrived sense of self<\/li>\n
  6. Loss of authenticity<\/li>\n
  7. Narcissism<\/li>\n
  8. Voyeurism<\/li>\n
  9. Loss of privacy<\/li>\n
  10. Loss of intimacy<\/li>\n
  11. Decreased tactile stimulation<\/li>\n
  12. Dishonesty<\/li>\n
  13. Delusion<\/li>\n
  14. Uncertainty<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I point out these fears not necessarily to dispel them, but to better understand the meanings and implications of a particular cultural moment characterized by vast technological growth and mediated forms of interaction. \u00a0To fully understand a cultural moment, we have to understand the resistance to it. We can look at the cultural values from which these fears stem. We can look at the conditions under which these fears are valid, and the conditions under which these fears are overstated.<\/p>\n

    Finally, I should point out that this list is no way exhaustive. I would therefore like to ask the Cyborgology readers: What other fears drive digital dualism and a privileging of the physical?<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    During my short time in Vegas I listened to and partook, in many formal, informal, academic and recreational conversations about technology and social media. This often resulted in debates over the digital\/actual split (or lack thereof). \u00a0Those who espoused the digital\/actual split did so with a clear privileging of the \u201cactual\u201d (i.e. physical). \u00a0This debate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1753,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12180,9967],"tags":[12196,10447,2716],"class_list":["post-4222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asa2011","category-commentary","tag-asa-2011","tag-digital-dualism","tag-fear"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4222"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4237,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions\/4237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}