Edward Mendelsen's Essay In The Depths Of Digital Age

In his powerful 2016 essay, “ In the Depths of Digital Age," Edward Mendelsen persuades readers that humans are compelled to constantly change their perception of the world in both positive and negative ways as a direct result of the digital era. Changes caused by the digital revolution are abrupt and overpowering like an unpredictable storm. In consequence of this sudden transition and the development of the smartphone, people’s lives have become progressively public and accessible. The younger generation(s), especially, have a different understanding of privacy, and thus are prominently the ones to expose themselves on social media and the rest of the virtual world. Furthermore, not only are the physical aspects of people’s lives willingly being put on display, but also the emotional, making the society more vulnerable and permeable. To describe this vulnerability, Mendelsen uses the master/slave dynamic as a metaphor to portray one’s conspicuous addiction to their smartphones. As new notifications arrive, the constant buzzing and flashing of the phone causes citizens to become distracted, to the point where they are almost oblivious to their surroundings. On the contrary,

But, as Bernard Harcourt implies, rather than the spy agencies or corporations, it is the society who is to be blamed for deliberately unveiling themselves into the virtual cloud. This self-exposure has altered the way consumers are being controlled. While large corporations like Apple restrict the means to invade one’s privacy, their various devices enable users to do the same. Moreover, civilization is imprisoned and enslaved into the digital world, where one is practically forced to embrace new technologies in order to keep up with the endlessly evolving society. Resulting in an extremely asocial community, where one delves into