ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses changes in communication caused by digital media and their psychic significance and consequences. The author’s remarks are based partly on findings concerning the social media practices of children and their parents. The frame of reference for the analysis is cultural change and the social and psychic meanings of attention. The author sees shared attention both as a core element in communication in general and as the unconditional attention bestowed on others and otherness, which is an essential factor in affection, empathy and relatedness and as such indispensable for psychic development. She compares and contrasts it with self-referential attention and instrumental attention manipulation. A further topic is the effect on psychic development of fragmented attention resulting from the overlap between online and offline communication.
