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BY-NC-ND 4.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2021

Digital Loneliness

Asking Too Simple a Question about a Complex Problem

From the book Digital Roots

  • Edward Brennan

Asking Too Simple a Question about a Complex Problem

10.1515/9783110740202.

Abstract

This chapter attempts to historicize “digital loneliness.” To do so, it considers two ways to historically contextualize media and loneliness. The first considers today’s discussions of “digital loneliness” as the latest manifestation of the type of polarized “hopes and fears” discourse that cyclically greets new communications tools. The second approach places technology in the background and foregrounds loneliness as a cultural phenomenon that is shaped by longterm historical processes. This, arguably, points towards more fruitful ways of thinking about loneliness as a complex problem.

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
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