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Hot media, technological transformation and the plague of the dark emotions: Erich Fromm, Viktor Frankl and the recovery of meaning

  • This article takes the position that our contemporary overheated media environment lends itself to comfortable passivity, resulting in mental breakdown in the guise of the dark emotions: anxiety, melancholia and boredom. This is especially the case with the inevitable synergy of the upcoming technological transformations from genetic modification, virtual reality simulacra and artificial intelligence/robotics. After discussing the data from the World Health Organization regarding the stark increase of people across the globe suffering from depression and anxiety, this article weds the concepts of McLuhan’s hot-cool distinction with Fromm’s delineation of the productive character orientation. Following Fromm, this article argues that joy ensues from reason, productive labour and love–sorrow from ignorance, alienated work and indifference. When we willfully abrogate our responsibilities to self and other via non-participational mediated forms, we cede away our potential for growth and development. This leads to the emotional breakdowns of guilt, boredom, anxiety and melancholia. Viktor Frankl’s logo-therapeutic perspective is discussed as a counterbalance to the social effects wrought by our overheated technological environment. Frankl’s stress on phenomenological meaning as the cornerstone of existence provides a lens to understanding the affects of an over-reliance on technological gadgetry.

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Metadaten
Author:Barry Liss
Parent Title (English):Explorations in Media Ecology, Vol. 17, No. 4 (2018), pp. 379-392. [Online ISSN 2048-0717] [doi.org/10.1386/eme.17.4.379_1]
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2018
Release Date:2024/04/04
Format:to purchase via publisher
IdNo:Liss_B_2018
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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