Learning to walk and talk (again): what developmental psychology can teach us about online intersubjectivity

ABSTRACT

Since the advent of the internet, researchers have been interested in the intersubjective possibilities and constraints that digital environments offer users. Some argue that seemingly disembodied digitally-mediated interactions are severely limited when compared to their embodied face-to-face counterparts; others are more optimistic about the possibilities that such technologies afford. Yet, both camps tend towards offering static accounts of online intersubjectivity. What we think these approaches fail to take into account is how users’ intersubjective capabilities on digital platforms can evolve and change over time. Developmental psychology emphasises that intersubjective capabilities build upon and are interrelated to one another, and more sophisticated styles of intersubjectivity only emerge once earlier stages are in place. This is suggestive for analysing intersubjectivity online as it provides a framework for thinking about how an individual’s intersubjective capabilities might develop. We argue that in some cases this can happen through gradual adjustments of our basic intersubjective capabilities to digital spaces, especially those that strive to mimic established forms of offline interaction (e.g. Zoom). In other cases, this can involve more substantial processes of learning to walk and talk again online. Consequently, determining the possibilities and limits of online intersubjectivity is, at least in part, relative to a user’s skill, history, and familiarity with the technology in question.

KEYWORDS:

• intersubjectivity
• online intersubjectivity
• digital spaces
• developmental psychology
• social cognition
• phenomenology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Notably, some analyses of online intersubjectivity stress that seemingly disembodied aspects of online intersubjectivity can be a positive social feature (e.g. Bortolan 2023).

2 Note that it is now possible to disable some of these features. One might suggest that this is precisely to avoid appearing as present in shared space with others.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucy Osler

Lucy Osler is a lecturer in Philosophy in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy at Cardiff University. Her research travels across phenomenology, philosophy of technology, and philosophy of emotions, with a particular focus on online sociality.

David Ekdahl

David Ekdahl is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark. His research focuses on extreme cases of virtual embodiment, the bodily significance of online spaces for vulnerable groups, as well as on methodological questions of applied phenomenology and neurodiversity.