Editing Digitality

{{Short description|The era of living in digital culture(s)}}
'''Digitality''' (also known as '''digitalism'''<ref name="digitalism">{{cite conference |last1=Stergioulas |first1=Lampros |last2=Abbasi |first2=Munir |last3=Smith |first3=Carl |last4=Bowen |first4=Jonathan |title=Technology Futures for the Creative Industries: Presenting the Cr-eAM Roadmaps |conference=Electronic Visualisation and the Arts |date=July 2014 |doi=10.14236/ewic/eva2014.38 }}</ref>) is used to mean the condition of living in a [[digital culture]], derived from [[Nicholas Negroponte]]'s book ''[[Being Digital]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Negroponte|first=Nicholas|title=Being Digital|year=1995|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-679-43919-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/beingdigital00negr/page/255 255]|url=https://archive.org/details/beingdigital00negr/page/255}}</ref>  in analogy with [[modernity]] and [[post-modernity]].

==Overview==
Aspects of digitality include nearly continuous contact with other people through [[Mobile phone|cell phones]],<ref name="digitalism" /> near instantaneous access to information through the [[World Wide Web]], third wave information storage (where any fragment in a text can be searched and used for categorization, such as through search engine [[Google]]), and communicating through [[Blog|weblogs]] and [[email]].<ref>Franklin, Seb. “Control.” ''MIT Press'', 3 Sept. 2015, [https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/control mitpress.mit.edu/books/control].</ref>

Some of the negative aspects of digitality include [[computer virus]]es and [[spam (electronic)|spam]].<ref>Shelly, Gary B., and Misty E. Vermaat. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YFtwxoFUSt4C ''Discovering Computers 2010: Living in a Digital World''.] 1 ed., Boston, MA, Course Technology Press, 2009.</ref>

With the rapidly growing technology, children at increasingly younger ages are learning to speak through the cyber world rather than in face-to-face conversation. They are becoming more [[Digital literacy|digitally literate]] and creating a new culture in which they communicate more efficiently online than they do in person.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Buckingham |first1=David |title=Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet |journal=Research in Comparative and International Education |date=March 2007 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=43–55 |doi=10.2304/rcie.2007.2.1.43 |s2cid=51995385 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Development==
In the 1990s, literature on the effects of interactivity with information began to be written and published, particularly focused on the immediacy and ubiquity of [[digital communications]], and the interactivity and participatory nature of [[digital media]].<ref>Hershman, Lynn. "The Fantasy Beyond Control." ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=JnH5nQEACAAJ Illuminating Video: An Essential Guide to Video Art]'', 1990</ref> While traditionally in [[Postmodernism]] a decisive role for media in the formation of personality, culture and social order is presumed,<ref>Bignell, Jonathan. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0lVabD9fYBIC&dq=postmodern+media+theorists&pg=PR7 Post Modern Media Culture]''. Akaar Books, 2000.</ref> so that this emerged literature differed fundamentally from the analog critical theory, in that the audience now has the ability to do more than create a personal text through their [[idiolect]], as they are able to create newly informed texts which reinforce the behavior of other participants.<ref>Landow, George P. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=exzQDHI8rpQC&dq=critical+theory+of+media&pg=PR11 Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization]''. 3rd ed., Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.</ref> Simply put, digital media made way for individuals to express themselves through online interaction and refine their skills in a communal effort.

Many works have been written outlining the fear of digitality. In the 1990s, the realization of digitality caused many artists to visualize and fear a future where analog would become completely extinct. They viewed digitalization as a deletion of the past.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Swanstrom |first1=Lisa |title=External Memory Drives: Deletion and Digitality in Agrippa (A Book of The Dead) |journal=Science Fiction Studies |date=2016 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=14–32 |doi=10.5621/sciefictstud.43.1.0014 |url=https://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1136926/FULLTEXT01 }}</ref>

Although the computer was originally created to complete large scale computations, it ultimately progressed into a processing machine that could retrieve and interpret information very quickly. The first personal computer was first introduced by [[Ed Roberts (computer engineer)|Ed Roberts]] in 1975 and this sparked the introduction of other "personal computers".<ref>Henderson, Harry. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tla6d153uwC Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology]''. CRC Press, 2003.{{pn|date=March 2021}}</ref> As technology continued to advance, more and more intelligent computers were coming to light with stronger processing power and wider range of utilities. This new age of technology lead to the invention of the [[World Wide Web]] by [[Tim Berners-Lee]] in 1990 which revolutionized the modern world. With the introduction of this [[World Wide Web]] people were able to more commonly access a data pool online with a trove of information. This information is now easily accessible from a [[Smartphone]] which can connect people from anywhere at any time. 

==In the 21st century==
Digital technology plays an important role in 21st century life. In the United States, nearly two-thirds of people own [[smartphone]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/ | title=U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015 | publisher=Pew Research Center | date=April 1, 2015 | access-date=April 14, 2016 | author=Aaron Smith}}</ref> Using [[social networking service]]s and [[online forum]]s, people are able to communicate with other users, regardless of geographic region or time constraints. The rise of this type of interaction partly explains the significant increase in phone use in younger people, and [[mobile technology]] is mainly used for the purposes of communication.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pewinternet.org/2009/08/19/teens-and-mobile-phones-over-the-past-five-years-pew-internet-looks-back/ | title=Teens and Mobile Phones Over the Past Five Years: Pew Internet Looks Back |publisher=Pew Research Center | date=August 19, 2009 | access-date=April 14, 2016 | author=Amanda Lenhart}}</ref>  Digitalism is also slowly replacing many forms of physical aids, such as print encyclopedias and dictionaries, with people turning to newer technology for various needs.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/blowntobitshowne00evan | contribution=How Encyclopædia Britannica Was Blown To Bits | title=Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy | work=Capitalism Magazine | publisher=Harvard Business Review Press | date=December 5, 2000 | access-date=April 14, 2016 | author1=Philip Evans | author2=Thomas Wurster | isbn=978-0875848778 }}</ref> In his book, Nicholas Negroponte explains how necessities in the future will be [[Digitizing|digitized]]. For example, a large proportion of [[mass media]] (including newspapers and magazines) are becoming digitized,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.simon-kucher.com/sites/default/files/stud_benchmarking_study_digitalization_2014.pdf|title=Just how digital are newspapers and magazines today? A global perspective|author=Annette Ehrhardt|author2=Lisa Jäger|author3=Christoph Röttgen|work=Simon-Kucher.com|access-date=2016-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317092619/http://www.simon-kucher.com/sites/default/files/stud_benchmarking_study_digitalization_2014.pdf|archive-date=2017-03-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a large percentage of financial transactions made in the United States are being made without the physical exchange of money (e.g. [[Online banking|online]]).

Computation is frequently discussed in debates on digitally. Modern theorists are now choosing to focus more on our relation to computers rather than the computers themselves as an important element of digitality.<ref>Boast, Robin. ''[http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780237398 The Machine in the Ghost: Digitality and its Consequences]''. Reaktion Books Ltd, 2017.{{pn|date=March 2021}}</ref>

==Creative and Cultural Interpretations==

Recent explorations of digitality extend beyond academic and theoretical contexts, finding expression in artistic and cultural works that reflect on the lived experience of life in a digitally mediated world. One such example is ''Across the Stack: Digital Minds Collide'', a creative series curated by writer Tate Ellis through the newsletter ''Love to Hate and the Joy we Find'', hosted on the independent platform Substack.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ellis |first=Tate |title=Across the Stack: Digital Minds Collide |url=https://love2hate.substack.com/p/across-the-stack-digital-minds-collide |website=Love to Hate and the Joy we Find |publisher=Substack |date=April 2025 |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> The collection brings together essays, fragments, and multimedia pieces that examine how digital life shapes identity, memory, imagination, and emotional connection.

This creative turn in digital commentary parallels work by other contemporary writers using digital platforms to explore digitality, such as the newsletter ''The Convivial Society'' by L.M. Sacasas,<ref>{{cite web |last=Sacasas |first=L.M. |title=The Convivial Society |url=https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com |website=The Convivial Society |publisher=Substack |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> which critically engages with technology and culture from a philosophical perspective. These works illustrate how digital publishing itself can function both as a subject of critique and as a vehicle for exploring the evolving human condition under digitality.


==Social media==
[[Social media]] are computer-generated tools that allow for people to convey their thoughts, ideas, or interests through digital communities or networks. Social media are online platforms for human interactions with local and global reach, designed to circulate information. These platforms support social interactions and give rise to a complex interplay between communication, social practices, and technological infrastructure.<ref name="Del Fresno García et al 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Del Fresno García |first1=Miguel |last2=Daly |first2=Alan J. |last3=Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo |first3=Sagrario |title=Identificando a los nuevos influyentes en tiempos de Internet: medios sociales y análisis de redes sociales |trans-title=Identifying the new Influencers in the Internet Era: Social Media and Social Network Analysis |language=es |journal=Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas |date=2016 |issue=153 |pages=23–42 |doi=10.5477/cis/reis.153.23 |doi-access=free |url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/997/99746725002.pdf }}</ref> This gives way to connection of all these components in real-time, so that through these connections people, information, data and events are instantly and globally spread. This allows for platforms like [[Twitter]] to be a media medium where there is an intersection of media and social interaction.<ref name="Del Fresno García et al 2016"/>

Social media is different from social networks, but is commonly looked at as the same, which makes public differentiation harder.

Just like television and advertisements, social media has great potential for business and marketing opportunities where companies can formulate custom promotions geared for specific audiences.

==Education==
Digitality in the 2000s has had a great impact on the world of education. The [[internet]] creates an abundance of easily accessible and globally diverse resources.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/07/05/reading-the-digital-future/ | title=Reading: The Digital Future | journal=The New York Review of Books | date=July 5, 2001 | access-date=April 14, 2016 | author=Jason Epstein| volume=48 | issue=11 }}</ref> The digitization of textbooks and other written texts reduces the demand for the print versions.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.project-disco.org/competition/112113-the-changing-textbook-industry/#.VxBFmPkrLrc | title=The Changing Textbook Industry | work=Disruptive Competition Project | date=November 21, 2013 | access-date=April 14, 2016 | author=Jonathan Band}}</ref> A vast majority of books now come with a digital version of the text that allows for easier access from anywhere. This applies to scholarly textbooks, religious texts, books, and other texts that would normally have to be found in physical form. Digitalism has also made it so that children are now presented with electronic knowledge at a very early age, resulting in the increased implementation of electronics in school systems (for example in [[Educational technology|electronic learning]], [[mobile learning]], and [[blended learning]]). Students and academics alike have adopted social media such as [[Facebook]], [[Twitter]], [[YouTube]], and blogging platforms to expand the horizons for learning.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balakrishnan |first1=Vimala |last2=Gan |first2=Chin Lay |title=Students' learning styles and their effects on the use of social media technology for learning |journal=Telematics and Informatics |date=August 2016 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=808–821 |doi=10.1016/j.tele.2015.12.004 }}</ref>

==Intercultural communication==
[[Intercultural communication]] is an important part of globalization. In the past, intercultural communication was made difficult because of the distance separating different cultures. However, with modern-day technology and digitality, it is becoming increasingly possible to interact and learn about other cultures in an environment where people can openly speak. This interaction allows for people to compare and reflect upon both their own and different cultures.{{fact|date=April 2021}} The internet creates platforms and forums where people from different backgrounds can develop intercultural communication skills and gain a cross-cultural abundance of knowledge. With the digitality of religious texts and cultural meetings, it is increasingly feasible to be submerged in a culture or religion without the need to travel to the source.

==See also==
*[[Critical theory]]
*[[Deconstruction]]
*[[Digital philosophy]]
*[[Information Age]]
*[[Internet culture]]
*[[Media influence]]
*[[Modernity]]
*[[Postmodernism]]
*[[Postmodernity]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Bignell, Jonathan. ''Post Modern Media Culture''. Akaar Books, 2000.
*{{cite journal |last1=Buckingham |first1=David |title=Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet |journal=Research in Comparative and International Education |date=March 2007 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=43–55 |doi=10.2304/rcie.2007.2.1.43 |s2cid=51995385 |doi-access=free }}
*Franklin, Seb. ''[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/control Control: Digitality as Cultural Logic]''. [[MIT Press]], 2015.
*{{cite book |authorlink1=Tula Giannini |last1=Giannini |first1=Tula |authorlink2=Jonathan Bowen |last2=Bowen |first2=Jonathan P |title=[[Museums and Digital Culture]] |publisher=[[Springer Nature|Springer]] |series=Series on Computational Computing |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-319-97456-9 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-97457-6 |s2cid=146115899 }}
*Hershman, Lynn. "The Fantasy Beyond Control." ''Illuminating Video: An Essential Guide to Video Art'', 1990.
*King, Homay. ''Virtual Memory: Time-Based Art and the Dream of Digitality''. [[Duke University Press]], 2015. {{ISBN|978-0822360025}}.
*Jarzombek, Mark. ''Digital Stockholm Syndrome in the Post-Ontological Age''. University of Minnesota Press, 2016
*Landow, George P. ''Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization''. 3rd ed., Baltimore, The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2006.
*{{cite journal |last1=Landsberg |first1=Alison |title=Homay King. Virtual Memory: Time-Based Art and the Dream of Digitality . Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2015. 216 pp. |journal=Critical Inquiry |date=September 2016 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=215–216 |doi=10.1086/688298 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Rutten |first1=Kris |last2=Vandermeersche |first2=Geert |title=Introduction to Literacy and Society, Culture, Media and Education |journal=CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture |date=1 September 2013 |volume=15 |issue=3 |id={{ProQuest|2272302560}} |doi=10.7771/1481-4374.2238 |doi-access=free }}
*Shelly, Gary B., and Misty E. Vermaat. ''Discovering Computers 2010: Living in a Digital World''. Boston, MA: Course Technology Press, 2009.
*{{cite journal |last1=MacKenzie |first1=Scott |last2=Stenport |first2=Anna Westerståhl |last3=Traylor |first3=Garrett |title=Action, Avatar, Ecology, and Empire: Databases, Digitality, Death, and Gaming in Werner Herzog's Arctic |journal=The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists |date=2016 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=45–71 |doi=10.5749/movingimage.16.2.0045 |jstor=10.5749/movingimage.16.2.0045 |s2cid=194685323 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Swanstrom |first1=Lisa |title=External Memory Drives: Deletion and Digitality in Agrippa (A Book of The Dead) |journal=Science Fiction Studies |date=2016 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=14–32 |doi=10.5621/sciefictstud.43.1.0014 |url=https://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1136926/FULLTEXT01 }}

[[Category:Information Age]]
[[Category:Postmodernism]]
[[Category:Digital technology]]
[[Category:Social change]]
[[Category:Digital Revolution]]