"Retweet me and I'll follow you". An (ambivalent) reflection about digital networks and their effects on communication and political making

Abstract

More than two decades ago, literature questioned the potential of connecting in real time and globally as a network society. A discussion which began to warn the processes of cultural hybridization arising from the reception of new technologies, the role played by the media as spaces for re-knowledge and changes in sociabilities. However, no one could imagine then the great power that would acquire years later a new type of social networks, of digital character, daily use, and as popular as they are today Facebook, Twitter or Whatsapp, nor their influence on the "ways of being in the world "of the subjects and their way of facing relationships with others. From this reality, the objective of this paper is to link and give meaning to a series of reflections on the development of a culture linked to the emergence of social networks and their political impact. The aim is to analyze the main psychosocial effects of the use and exposure of these networks in the ways of doing politics. To do this, we start from two big hypotheses. On the one hand, the emergence of a sociability "showcase", characterized by a strong narcissism and an increase in vanity, as well as its naturalization and legitimacy through the intensive use of such networks. On the other hand, the generalization of a type of self-referential interaction that privileges the visual and reduces personal contact to the surface, minimizes complex dialogues and ends up generating, at times, a certain sense of emptiness and anxiety among its "users" . With a critical eye, the work is structured between the fears and the promises of this new world.