digital media ecology
The immersive, turbulent, mediatized flow.
It’s the social system technology is embedded in that matters.
digital media ecology
So central is communication to the process of control that the two have become the joint subject of the modern science of cybernetics, defined by one of its founders as "the entire field of control and communication theory, whether in the machine or in the animal
James R. Beniger • The Control Revolution by James R. Beniger
It seems distant now, but once upon a time the Internet was going to save us from the menace of TV. Since the late fifties, TV has had a special role, both as the country’s dominant medium, in audience and influence, and as a bête noire for a certain strain of American intellectuals, who view it as the root of all evil. In “Amusing Ourselves to... See more
Chris Hayes • On the Internet, We’re Always Famous
Trust, in other words, is transferable through parasocial relationships—regardless of whether the institution has done anything to earn it.
Crisis of Trust 2026: The Retreat Into Insularity
Never before in history have so many people been under the gaze of so many strangers. Humans evolved in small groups, defined by kinship: those we knew, knew us. And our imaginative capabilities allowed us to know strangers—kings and queens, heroes of legend, gods above—all manner of at least partly mythic personalities to whom we may have felt as... See more
Chris Hayes • On the Internet, We’re Always Famous
When media speed up the expression of thought, our capacity for reflective thought weakens
Digital orality: the return of speech
The engagement with digital flow is stimulated by hormonal rewards—evolutionary physiological mechanisms that encourage people to search for something useful and share it with others for bonding and recognition, much like real hunting and gathering.
Andrey Mir • The Digital Reversal. Thread-saga of Media Evolution
... See moreEven as recently as the 1990s, most people interacted with only their relatives, co-workers, and friends each day, plus maybe their local news anchor on TV. Now, though, those same Paleolithic brains are being bombarded with the thoughts of hundreds of strangers every hour. Modern communication in all its forms has put us in contact with more minds