Table Of ContentSocial Media, Truth and
the Care of the Self
On the Digital
Technologies of the
Subject
Diana Stypinska
Social Media, Truth and the Care of the Self
Diana Stypinska
Social Media, Truth
and the Care
of the Self
On the Digital Technologies of the Subject
Diana Stypinska
Lecturer in Social Theory
University of Galway
Galway, Ireland
ISBN 978-3-031-18107-8 ISBN 978-3-031-18108-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18108-5
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To Ann.
A
cknowledgements
First, my thanks go to Graeme Gilloch upon whose suggestion I decided
to write this short book.
The completion of this project would not have been possible without
my partner Jim. I cannot thank him enough for his unconditional support
and incisive remarks, which were crucial in allowing me to retain a
free hand.
I also remain indebted to Oliver Simpson—an exceptional thinker
whose generous friendship is a privilege.
Last, but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to Tom Boland
and Vesna Maleševic ˊ who not only provided me with intellectual encour-
agement but also made special efforts to make me feel welcome.
August 2022 Diana Stypinska
vii
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Towards Digital Subjectification 1
2 The Confessions of an Influencer 19
3 I Troll, Therefore I Am 41
4 Keyboard Revolutionaries 63
5 Conclusion: Care in the Post-Truth World 83
Index 93
ix
A A
bout the uthor
Diana Stypinska is Lecturer in Social Theory in the School of Political
Science and Sociology at University of Galway, Ireland. Her work traverses
critical theory, continental philosophy, cultural studies, and critical sociol-
ogy. She is the author of On the Genealogy of Critique: Or How We Have
Become Decadently Indignant (2020).
xi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: Towards Digital
Subjectification
Abstract This introductory chapter proposes to reconsider our con-
temporary post-truth predicament through the lens of subjectivity. It
argues for application of a sociological imagination that, via a Foucauldian
approach, takes as its point of departure the exploration of today’s prac-
tices of digital subjectification. The chapter subsequently contends that
our post-truth problematique cannot be understood without an investi-
gation of the ways in which technologies of power and technologies of
the subject mutually construct and reinforce each other within the digi-
tal context.
Keywords Truth • Post-truth • Subjectivity • Subjectification •
Technologies of the self
First published in 1959, C. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination
opens with a chapter entitled ‘The Promise’. In it, Mills speaks of a feeling
of entrapment experienced by the general public. ‘What ordinary men are
directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits
in which they live’, he expounds, ‘in other milieux, they move vicariously
and remain spectators’ (Mills 2000: 3). Crucially, according to Mills, this
fundamental disconnection between the self and the world is not simply a
matter of ignorance. Neither information nor skills of reason can, in and
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1
Switzerland AG 2022
D. Stypinska, Social Media, Truth and the Care of the Self,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18108-5_1
2 D. STYPINSKA
of themselves, liberate individuals from this peculiar, bell jar like, experi-
ence of reality. Indeed, in what may appear as the ultimate paradox, ‘the
more aware they become, however vaguely, of ambitions and of threats
which transcend their immediate locales, the more trapped they seem to
feel’ (Mills 2000: 3). The knowledge of the facts of the world, in Mills’
account, does not break the spell of heteronomy, but only reinforces the
experience of bystandership.
Mills’ solution—the development of ‘a quality of mind’ that he calls
‘the sociological imagination’ (see 2000)—is very well-known. So much
so, that, in effect, its sheer mention can inadvertently imbue any text with
a tired aura of an introductory sociology textbook. Indeed, these days,
one could go as far as to argue that Mills’ imperative ‘to translate personal
troubles into public issues’ (Mills 2000: 187) is outmoded. That, simply
put, the sociological ‘promise’ has gone mainstream to the point at which
it is now, for the most part, an element of a common-sense routine. From
academics, through journalists and politicians, all the way to conspiracy
theorists, it seems that everyone nowadays advocates that we externalize
our private problems. Everything is a social issue. Everything is politi-
cized. Yet, the sense of entrapment persists.
Admittedly, the parameters of, what Mills described as, our ‘private
orbits’ have shifted—most notably, through the use of digital technolo-
gies. For all the ‘interconnectedness’ afforded by social media, however,
the experience of vicarious spectatorship nevertheless prevails. Why? As
many would have it, today we are ‘being estranged from reality’ by post-
truth (McIntyre 2018: 172). Described as ‘a corruption of the process by
which facts are credibly gathered and reliably used to shape one’s beliefs
about reality’ (McIntyre 2018: 11), post-truth is frequently positioned as
the culprit of most, if not all, of today’s ills. According to this line of rea-
soning, what is urgently needed is an effective way of reclaiming true fac-
ticity (see, for instance, d’Ancona 2017; Kakutani 2018; McIntyre 2018).
In short, the recovery of the belief in the objectivity of truth is positioned
as the key to the (re)connecting of the self with the world.
My motivation behind writing this book derives, in a big part, from a
deep-felt sense of suspicion towards the above-mentioned perspective. As
a ‘trained’ sociologist, I cannot help but to question the assumption that
post-truth is the cause of our estrangement from reality. What if, instead,
the reverse was true? What if, that is to say, post-truth was a symptom of
our continuing entrapment in—by now, chiefly digital—subjective bell jars?
