ABSTRACT
Together with the other two major, computer-based technologies of the era - automation and AI, the Internet completes a technological triumvirate, the combined personal, social and cultural impacts of which are reshaping the modern self-field. Quoting Susan Stern’s memoir of her experience with the militant Weathermen group in America, Christopher Lasch contends that, for many individuals like Stern, the radical politics of the 1960s served mainly as a vehicle for filling ‘empty lives’ and providing an otherwise missing sense of purpose. The simulated environment of the game itself also creates its own context which can influence whether an individual’s excessive gaming habits can tip over into genuine addiction. As the best-known example of how social media platforms have evolved along these lines, Facebook offers an example of the growth and power of social media in shaping human relationships. A key feature of Facebook’s strategy, van Dijck argues, is ‘promoting the self as the center of an extensive network of friends’.
