DIGITAL RELIGION
Recently got into reading a Korean-born German philosopher
Byung-Chul Han. Actually, was looking for another book, but began
to read Infocracy. One of the main ideas he presents is an idea that
Infocracy – the information regime – is more cruel than the disciplinary regime
– the rule of domination by discipline.
There are many things could be said about the book, to make
it short – it’s worth reading, knowing that his premise is way different from a
regular Christian.
That’s why what caught my attention was a description of the
influencers of YouTube and Instagram using religious terminology. Just hear it
(p. 7-8, I re-typed carefully, saving orthography and punctuation):
The Influencers on YouTube and Instagram have internalized
the neoliberal technologies of power. Whether they peddle travel, beauty or
fitness, they constantly invoke freedom, creativity and authenticity. Their
advertisements are not seen as annoying because the products are cleverly
embedded in the influencers’ self-presentation. Whereas people use ad-blockers
to remove conventional advertisement on YouTube, they intentionally seek out
the influencers’ ads. Influencers are worshiped as idols, and this gives their
presentations a religious character. Influencers claiming to be motivational
coaches present themselves as saviours, and their followers, their disciples,
take part in the influencers’ lives by buying the products the influencers
pretend to consume in staged scenes from their everyday life – a king of digital
Eucharist. Social media is a church: like is ‘amen’; sharing is
communion; consumption is salvation. The repetition that influencers
use as a dramatic tool does not bore; rather, it gives the whole affair the character
of liturgy. At the same time, influencers present consumer products as
means of self-realization. We consume ourselves to death while realizing
ourselves to death. Consumption and identity become one. Identity itself
becomes a commodity.
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