Postdigital: Medienkritik im 21. Jahrhundert

The complete computerisation of the world we live in is developing an almost maelstrom-like dynamic. Heads are lowered over screens en masse, staring at the same apps everywhere on standardised devices. There can be no talk of informational autonomy, but all the more of the "fear of missing out". Peter Schmitt analyses this new normality in his brilliant essay. The violence of this upheaval, which has been taking place for little more than ten years, has barely been grasped philosophically. Digitalisation is dragging us with increasing dynamism into a mode of existence that we cannot decide for or against. Language is subject to the triumph of binary coding, music, available like water and gas, is losing its real contour and substance. Individuality as a fundamental human self-relationship is diffusing on the net and freedom is more threatened than ever in the digitally managed world. What does it mean when people become permanently monitored programme users? Schmitt is neither concerned with demonising the technology that surrounds us nor with a fearful protective attitude. His book aims for an appropriate understanding of the digital and a new, "post-digital" self-image for users. The author argues for a contemporary media criticism that sharpens our awareness of the improbability of the situation into which our society has manoeuvred itself.