Abstract
The language of our online, online environment is predominantly visual. Moreover, our online interactions proliferate not with a visual language that offers all the subtlety and depth of verbal communication, but most commonly with memes and slogans, the reduction of language and communication to its most basic, viral formats. What might this be doing to our ability to communicate, to form critical opinions, to discern between that which is true and that which is false? The rise of post truth politics and news suggests that we are rapidly losing something vital in this process. Is it necessarily the image itself, the meme, or the slogan, that is the problem, or is the way in which they are interpreted in the brain? Utilising Barthes semiotics theory and notions of cognitive dissonance and vulnerability, I will explore the way these viral formats might be altering our perceptions, or how our perceptions might, in fact, be altering the viral formats we post, and encounter, particularly with regards to post truth, and what that might mean for the future of our understanding and cognition.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Post Truth, Social Media, Memes, Slogans, Viral Images, Semiotics
Digital Media
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