Living as a Zombie in Media (is the Only Way to Survive)

Abstract

People use multiple media more or less simultaneously a lot of the time—most of the time unaware of the concurrent exposure (Deuze, Media Life).1 This multiplication of mediated experiences not only contributes to a lack of awareness of media in our lives, but it also amplifies and accelerates an ongoing fusion of all domains of life (such as home, work, school, love, and play) with media. This intense and immersive media use can be seen as turning us into helpless addicts, slaves to machines—zombies. We are zombies in that we mindlessly succumb to the drive of our devices; we are zombies because we use media in ways that erase our distinctiveness as individuals as we record and remix ourselves and each other into media. Our society zombifies as we navigate it—willingly or involuntarily—augmented by virtualizing technologies. The zombie concept can be deployed in understanding a society after media, in that when we live in media, we become less aware of our surroundings, less tuned in to our senses, and thus more like lifeless automatons. Yet at the same time, living in media extends our senses and enhances our abilities to connect with others, to see ourselves and each other, and to manage the growing social complexity of our world. In this regard, the zombie concept helps us to appreciate the boundaryless and viral nature of human bonds. Additionally, because the zombie concept recognizes the indivisibility of the living and the dead, it can be used to articulate the increasing integration of our lives (and bodies) with technology and media.