What awaits us? Technology changing the way we relate

Let’s assume that for every fact there is a particular narrative that makes one have some kind of unique and subjective teaching. That said, as a warning, if we have “learned” anything it is that there is no control over our future, however immediate it may seem.

Under the current situation of the pandemic we are experiencing, many of the questions that are asked are what happens next when all this is over. There are optimistic views such as that given by Žižek (2020), or pessimistic views such as those of Agamben (2020) and Byung Chul Han (2020). However, as Segato (2020) explains, we should not dwell too much on what is to come, but on the practices that are emerging and what is currently under development.

In this article, therefore, I look at the role that technology can play, particularly the role that video games play in changing the ways we relate to each other and create community.

In a national context, in the health emergency in Mexico, the attitude that is being taken towards the individual, towards the other, is one of a body that gets sick and can get sick, is, therefore, an attitude of threat, hence the attacks on health personnel that are being reported in Mexico are understood. This fear of the other, together with the policy of distancing, is what Agamben analyzes with the term of mass (2020); that is, a group of united people who, paradoxically, remain distant, aloof, and passive.

However, against this technology of social distancing and confinement, the new media are helping to change the forms of association and in the creation of communities. One of these new media is video games, where titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons help to have a positive impact on emotions, and these, in a shared way, create stronger social relationships. Isbister (2016) comments that one of the main characteristics in which video games create an emotional impact is in the capacity to interact with others, having as common points the situation of a virtual world, depending on the video game. In addition to this, there are the features designed by the developers, such as the role of gifts in Animal Crossing, or the mods made by the players themselves, as in the case of the actions that will be performed in Minecraft.

Finally, while the technologies of confinement and the policies of social distancing are individualizing the bodies, the new media, like video games, are modifying and resignifying social associations and thinking in community, so beyond the somewhat pessimistic forecasts of Agamben, these forms of interaction with the other are being configured, and the pandemic is only visualizing and increasing it more.

References

Agamben, G. (2004). Homo sacer II. Estado de excepción, Traducción de Flavia Costa e Ivana Costa. Argentina, Ed. Adriana Hidalgo.

Isbister, K. (2016). How games move us: Emotion by design. Mit Press.

Segato, R. (2020) Coronavirus: Todos somos mortales. Del significante vacío a la naturaleza abierta de la historia[1] // Rita Laura Segato. Lobo Suelto. Recuperado de http://lobosuelto.com/todos-somos-mortales-segato/

Zizek, S. (2020). Coronavirus es un golpe al capitalismo al estilo “Kill Bill” y podría conducir a una reinvención del comunismo. En P. Amadeo (Ed.), Sopa de Wuhan: pensamiento contemporáneo en tiempos de pandemias (pp. 21–28). La Plata: Editorial ASPO.