The Screen as Instrument of Freedom and Unfreedom
Amy E. Wendling
Chapter from the book: Stocchetti, M. 2020. The Digital Age and Its Discontents: Critical Reflections in Education.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Stocchetti, M. 2020. The Digital Age and Its Discontents: Critical Reflections in Education.
This chapter explores the political significance of handheld screen technologies. I argue that devices and watchers condition each another, then draw on Galit Wellner’s work in order to explore the mutual conditioning occurring with the cell phone and tablet screen. I then apply the insights of Marx, Marcuse, Feenberg and Freire to describe the ambivalence of screen technology, which lives in a suspension between emancipatory and fettering ends. The chapter draws on the philosophy of language to explore the changes to literacy brought about by screen reading and watching surfaces. It closes with a meditation on the use of handheld screen technologies in the classroom.
Wendling, A. 2020. The Screen as Instrument of Freedom and Unfreedom. In: Stocchetti, M (ed.), The Digital Age and Its Discontents. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-4-3
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Published on Aug. 11, 2020