ABSTRACT
This chapter first discusses the ‘infantilization of society’ thesis, and presents several arguments about the infantilization of adults in the various institutions of hypermodern society. Using the material reviewed in the previous chapters, it suggests that, in concert, the adjustments imposed by the five terminal default settings infantilize users, and that interactions with terminals can be pleasurable precisely because they tacitly gratify infantile cravings. It concludes by proposing that we add infantilization to acceleration and excess as a key aspect of a hypermodern culture and sensibility.
