The lecture by media theorist Geert Lovink, Sad by Design: Notes on the Networked Psyche can now be viewed on the Youtube Channel of the Master Institute of Visual Cultures.
About the presentation
In this lecture Geert Lovink, Dutch media theorist, internet critic and founder of the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences discussed the dark side of the net. The mental state of internet users is tragic. Instead of empowerment and self-organisation, what we mostly see around is anger and despair. How did we end up like this?
The presentation, which builds on the book Sad by Design (2019) that came out in five languages, zooms in on the widespread techno-sadness that is produced by dominant social media platforms through ‘behavioral modification’ (also known as ‘nudging’) with the aim to keep users coming back to the app, exposing them to even more personalized adds. Instead of empowerment and diversity we witness a ‘chilling effect’ of hyper conformism. How can we dismantle these ‘prediction markets’? Does Europe have anything on offer when it comes to alternatives or do we limit our role to regulation?
Watch other previous lectures online
The lecture by Geert Lovink was the fourth public lecture in the Performative Defiance Lecture Series. These lectures are an initiative of the Autonomy Research Chair at the Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology (Caradt), organized in collaboration with and hosted by the Master Institute of Visual Cultures. All the previous lectures can be viewd on the Youtube Channel of the Master Institute of Visual Cultures.
#1 Brian Holmes, After Chimerica: Art and Bioregionalism in the Anthropocene
#2 Justin O’Connor, Creative Industries in China: From Catch-Up to Cold War 2.0
#3 Patricia Reed, Xenofeminism and Planetary Orientation
#4 Geert Lovink, Sad by Design, Notes on the Networked Psyche