Technology, media literacy, and the human subject: a posthuman approach

Introduction

The book ‘Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject: A Posthuman Approach’ by Richard S. Lewis adopts a transdisciplinary approach to reflect on various topics surrounding media studies. More specifically the author combines media ecology, post-humanism, complexity theory, and post-phenomenology to examine the role that technology has played in understanding what it means to be media literate today. Both academics and practitioners in related sectors can benefit from the book's extensive presentation of the topic and well-organized organisation. Lewis argues that an understanding of the multiplicity of these relationships can enable human beings to understand their role as agents within this vast network. This book review of Lewis’ text, therefore, offers an opportunity to traverse several relevant topics that help to highlight the role of humanity as agents that facilitate this multiplicity of relationships while increasing one’s knowledge base when it comes to media studies.

There are two sections to the book. In the first section, important ideas like media literacy, technological relation, and posthuman subject are positioned within pertinent disciplinary frameworks. The chapters included in this part are ‘2. Situating Media Literacy’, ‘3. Understanding the Medium Through the Technological Relation in Medias Res’, and ‘4. The Posthuman Situating the Subject in Human-Tech Relations’. Each chapter in this section is dedicated to exploring these concepts from different disciplinary perspectives, providing a comprehensive understanding of their significance in the context of technology and media. By positioning these ideas within pertinent disciplinary frameworks, the author sets the stage for the subsequent exploration of a posthuman approach to media literacy.

The development of a posthuman framework for media literacy and a tool to use this framework in practice are covered in the second section. It builds upon the foundational knowledge established in the first section. The chapters in this section guide the reader through the creation and implementation of a practical tool that allows for the application of this posthuman framework. The chapters include ‘5. Developing the instrument to leverage the framework’, ‘6. Developing an instrument to leverage the framework’, and ‘7. Conclusion’.

The aim is to equip readers with the necessary knowledge and tools to navigate and critically engage with the rapidly evolving technological landscape.

The author hopes to help people negotiate their intra-subjective mediations with media technologies in a way that empowers them rather than alienates them by providing them with this framework and tool.

Lewis introduces the main topics and queries covered in the book in the opening chapter. He contends that technology relationships are not impartial, and that subjectivity is impacted by how we interact with media technologies. Lewis emphasizes the necessity for media literacy instruction that considers the complexity of the human subject and the non-neutrality of technology relations. He places media literacy within the context of intersubjective mediation, which emphasizes how the subject and technology are jointly constructed at the time of encounter. He writes ‘To have a more comprehensive understanding of media literacy, we need a more complete understanding of how human subjects are constituted through all of their relations’ (p. 21). A summary of the organization and importance of the research is given in the chapter's conclusion.

In Chapter 2, Lewis gives a general overview of media literacy and broadens the notion to include more than just critical evaluation and analysis. He contends that media literacy must consider the larger context of media technologies, such as their creation, dissemination, and use. Lewis also emphasis’s the significance of going beyond the transmission model, which views the sender and receiver as distinct entities, to comprehend communication. Instead, he promotes a relational strategy that places an emphasis on how people and technology co-construct communication and meaning. Author expands the media literacy ‘to help us learn how to quickly situate and guide our own investigation into understanding the media we not only invite into our lives, but the inescapable media that surrounds us daily as well’ (p. 42).

Chapter 3 sees the author first examining the relationship between post-phenomenology and technology. The author also examines the role of media ecology in the multiplicity of relationships that explain how human beings’ impact and are affected by different media technologies. The author develops the understanding of ‘the mediums of media technologies’ (p. 55).

Chapter 4 explores different arguments that have been posed regarding the role of humanity as far as how human beings affect and are affected by the multiplicity of relationships posed by the different media technologies. The aim is to show how the enhancement of the human species is represented within this complex network of relationships ‘to better understand what makes up the human subject under discussion’ (p.87).

Chapter 5 involves condensing the different perspectives offered in media ecology, post-humanism, complexity theory, and post-phenomenology to determine how human beings impact and are affected by different media technologies. It is this intra-subjective mediation which underpins the entire argument – this complex network, therefore, underscores all of the relationships that are mentioned by the author.

Chapter 6 involves the author creating the instrument which will be used to navigate the complex network mentioned in the previous chapter. The next step is the identification of the multiplicity of relationships occurring within this network. The last step is to apply this interdisciplinary instrument to evaluate the multiplicity.

Chapter 7 offers a summary of his findings by restating the main points of the argument. Next, the author examines the strengths and weaknesses of the study as consistent with all research. The author's recommendations are in the next section where the text offers possible future developments to further broaden this area of knowledge. Lastly, Lewis offers his final thoughts before offering closing remarks. He writes ‘I found that it was first necessary to clarify a contemporary understanding of what a human subject is and how it is continually being constituted through its relations’ (p. 202).

The book presents a distinctive viewpoint on the connection between subjectivity and technology. According to the author, the technological developments of the twenty-first century have fundamentally altered how we view what it is to be human, causing a paradigm change in how we interact with technology and media.

By studying the complex and multifaceted relationships that people have with media technology, this book makes a significant contribution to the area of media studies. This book is an invaluable tool for researchers, academics, and students working on the subject because it draws on several different fields and creates a new framework and instrument. It should be mentioned that the book is quite specialized and technical, therefore it might not be appropriate for a wide audience. However, this book is a useful and insightful resource for anyone interested in investigating the connections between technology, media literacy, and the human subject.

The treatment of this topic by the author is also thorough thus lending more strength to the author’s argument. Despite the subject matter being broadened by the sheer number of disciplines used, the author does a commendable job of condensing the most relevant concepts into a meaningful body of work. Media ecology, post-humanism, complexity theory, and post-phenomenology are all properly employed in the crafting of the instrument used by the author to draw his conclusions. Furthermore, even the most obscure concepts from the aforementioned disciplines are explained for the audiences’ benefit. Thus, the thorough treatment of the topic by the author helps to add further quality and validity to the subject matter.

Academics in media and communication studies, philosophy of technology, and post-humanities can all find value in the arguments posed by Lewis here. The author’s style and thorough treatment of the topic add further credibility to the argument presented, making it effective in convincing readers of its validity. Alternatively, such professionals can improve their competencies by leveraging this information into actionable insight to be applied in the frontline.

Scholarship on media literacy has usually focused on it as being the development of skills to access, evaluate, analyze, and create media messages without considering or weighing the impact of technology as a medium. How it enables and restricts both content and media users are potential areas of study that are also often ignored. Furthermore, there is little attention paid to the broader context of interrelations which affect human interactions with different media technologies – this is despite overwhelming evidence of there being an underlying network formed by interrelating factors that constitute this multiplicity of relationships. Therefore, this book finds the author proposing the interdisciplinary approach to combine various fields so that readers can grasp how different relationships occur in human interactions with media technology. This book review of Lewis’ text, therefore, offers an opportunity to traverse several relevant topics that help to highlight the role of humanity as agents that facilitate this multiplicity of relationships while increasing one's knowledge base when it comes to media studies.