ALIENATION OF DIGITAL REALITY: A PERSON WITHOUT A CHOICE OR A CHOICE FOR A PERSON?

Abstract

Introduction. The authors of the article address the limitless potential of digital technology and technology as a result of human activity in the transformation of the information society, where mediatization and digital constitution of the current social reality leads to the emergence of a hybrid reality that significantly alters the perception of the world. Based on the co-evolution of new technologies and humans, digital reality enables the reformatting of the information society into a digital one, and human activity is increasingly mediated by digital technology and devices, thereby establishing and unfolding a hybrid reality. This, in turn, leads to the transformation of social practices, transforming them into a hybrid format: socialization through distance learning technologies, online solidarity, the blurring of privacy boundaries, etc. A gradual transition of sociality (total communication, the search for innovation, digital ethics, etc.) is taking place, giving rise to new forms of alienation. Digital reality, invading the realms of human and social existence, transforming their environment into a hybrid one, is becoming a “factory†for new forms of responsibility and alienation, while networks and platforms, forcing individuals and society to act in a world of screen images, are becoming the primary symbolic tool for their construction. The purpose of the study is to analyze human-induced changes in the information society, leading to the emergence of new forms of alienation in digital reality. The objectives are to examine the methods of mediatization and digital constitution that lead to the formation of a hybrid reality, its development and unfolding, and the transformation of social practices into a “transition of sociality†in the context of the information society’s transformation into a digital one; to analyze the new forms of alienation generated by these processes, and networks and platforms as the primary symbolic tools for constructing contemporary forms of alienation, responsibility, and choice; and to identify benchmarks for overcoming the alienation of hybrid formats of digital reality. Discussion. To analyze the hybridization of social practices, the article employs an interdisciplinary approach. It allows for the synthesis of methodological tools from classical socio-philosophical knowledge (in particular, the concepts of agency and alienation) and non-classical ones (ideas from theories of post-industrial society, social constructivism, actor-network theory, and critical data studies). The research methodological framework also includes both general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, and deduction) and specialized ones (content analysis of creolized social media texts). The scientific novelty of the study. In understanding the digitalization of society, two poles have emerged in current socio-philosophical discourse: optimistic and pessimistic. This approach is limited and fails to recognize the multidimensionality and ambivalence of digital transformation. On the one hand, the mediatization of society and its construction through the architecture of digital platforms offers models and standards for various social practices, forcing individuals to lose their agency. On the other hand, digital technology is merely the result of human activity and, therefore, increases human responsibility for the design of the digital landscape. Therefore, the authors of the article believe that a third approach is needed — a synthetic one, the one that views the emergence of a digital society as a continuation of an information society, not only manifesting the intensifying contradictions in the positioning of individuals as subjects but also identifying ways to resolve them. Results. Viewing digital society as a logical continuation of the information society, the authors point out that digital technology and equipment are merely artifacts of complex sociotechnical activity and lack independent subjectivity. Rejecting criticism of big data systems, algorithms, and platforms that impose organizational formats on society and individuals, the perspective on digital society shifts to an analysis of the problems of the hybridization of reality associated with new formats of responsibility, alienation, and choice. The guidelines for overcoming these problems are outlined in the fact that humans, having become infinitely “expanded,†are now forced to “assemble†not only the universe but also themselves through the actions of technical and technological simulacrum agents. Conclusions. The information society is being transformed into a digital one as a result of the coevolution of man and technology. A hybrid reality is emerging, acquiring the status of a fundamental environment of existence. People are increasingly delegating the function of choice and decision-making to digital systems, which present a new form of alienation. However, in a digital society, the role of the individual, their goals, values, and the significance of “human†choice are also increasing, as they are responsible for the results of technology application. Awareness of this responsibility is one of the conditions for overcoming alienation. In this regard, the “synthetic†paradigm allows us to rethink the phenomenon itself in new digital formats of its manifestations, as well as to identify research directions that define the guidelines for overcoming the problem of alienation in current conditions, with the dominant spiritual aspect of life, the process of searching for meaning, and the restoration of lost connections in the ontological dimension.