Postmodern view on digital communication

Question 1

What postmodernists discuss digital communication positively?

Answer 1

• Collins (understanding society)
• Bjorklund (autobiography, manipulate and update)
• Hart (autobiography, values and social networks/explore and understand society/identity)

Question 2

What postmodernists discuss digital communication negatively?

Answer 2

• Case (two lives)
• Hart (insignificant/superficial)
• Foucault (surveillance)

Question 3

Who discusses identity and digital communication?

Answer 3

Collins

Question 4

What does Collins say about digital communication?

Answer 4

• To understand society, we must understand chains of interaction between people.
• By looking at social networks, using a micro approach, it helps teach us how people see the world around them.
• We must also consider the differences in people’s off and online lives.

Question 5

What do Postmodernists say about identity and digital communication?

Answer 5

• It is created, negotiated, and confirmed through technological advances.
• It shows how people see themself and how others see them.

Question 6

What two postmodern sociologists discuss the autobiographical nature of digital communication?

Answer 6

Bjorklund
Hart

Question 7

What does Bjorklund say about digital communication and users of Facebook?

Answer 7

Digital communication allows people to manipulate and update their ongoing autobiography continually.

Question 8

What does Hart say about digital communication and users on Facebook?

Answer 8

• People are writing and rewriting their autobiographies on a daily basis which reflects their own values of society.
• Identities are thus created both offline and online, and people find like-minded friends on social networks.
• We can use events on Facebook to understand people’s feelings and actions in a social context, and to explore/understand ways in which identity is created.

Question 9

Who talks about writing and rewriting their autobiography, and using Facebook to understand identity/society?

Answer 9

Hart

Question 10

Who talks about the struggles for adolescents when using social media?

Answer 10

Case

Question 11

What does Case say about digital communication?

Answer 11

• Adolescents have two lives growing up (online and offline), which may be a challenge to maintain.
• New media makes it hard to remove mistakes as everything is visible.
• People don’t realise how much of what they say is stored online. People may find their private information has been disclosed.

Question 12

Who says that some people see Facebook as insignificant and superficial?

Answer 12

Hart

Question 13

What do postmodernists say about digital media and surveillance?

Answer 13

• People are being controlled through increasing amounts of information being collected, building profiles on their behaviour.
• Foucault: someone who is being watched is less likely to commit crime as chances of being caught is greater.
  People have information collected on them, which can control their behaviour, habits, preferences, and tastes.
  e.g., supermarkets will collect information on their customers through loyalty cards and online shopping.

Question 14

What postmodernist discusses digital media and surveillance?

Answer 14

Foucault

Question 15

What does Foucault discuss about digital media?

Answer 15

• Someone who is being watched is less likely to commit crime as chances of being caught is greater.
• People have information collected on them, which can control their behaviour, habits, preferences, and tastes.
  e.g., supermarkets will collect information on their customers through loyalty cards and online shopping.

Question 16

How can Postmodernism be evaluated?

Answer 16

• Ignore inequalities faced by working class and how one elite have so much control over the media. (Marxism)
• Ignore inequalities and exploitation faced by women due to digital communication. (Feminism)
• Only study from a micro approach, so small interactions. May need to be studied macro (social structures).