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Digital Media and Society
What does it mean to live in a digital society?
Does social media empower political activism?
How do we form and express our identity in a digital age?
Do algorithms and search engine results have a social role?
How have software and hardware transformed how we interact with each other?
In the early 21st century, digital media and the social have become irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren explores what it means to live in a digital society.
With succinct explanations of the key concepts, debates and theories you need to know, this is a must-have resource for students exploring digital media, social media, media and society, data and society, and the internet.
“An engaging story of the meaning digital media have in societies. The writing is relatable, with diverse and comprehensive references to theories. Above all, this is a fun book on what a contemporary digital society looks like!”
- Professor Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Simon Lindgren is Professor of Sociology at Umeå University in Sweden. He is also the director of DIGSUM, an interdisciplinary academic research centre studying the social dimensions of digital technology.
Does social media empower political activism?
How do we form and express our identity in a digital age?
Do algorithms and search engine results have a social role?
How have software and hardware transformed how we interact with each other?
In the early 21st century, digital media and the social have become irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren explores what it means to live in a digital society.
With succinct explanations of the key concepts, debates and theories you need to know, this is a must-have resource for students exploring digital media, social media, media and society, data and society, and the internet.
“An engaging story of the meaning digital media have in societies. The writing is relatable, with diverse and comprehensive references to theories. Above all, this is a fun book on what a contemporary digital society looks like!”
- Professor Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Simon Lindgren is Professor of Sociology at Umeå University in Sweden. He is also the director of DIGSUM, an interdisciplinary academic research centre studying the social dimensions of digital technology.
- GenresNonfiction
312 pages, Hardcover
Published April 4, 2022
23 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 7, 2024
Logging this for the same reasons I had for “Talk Like Ted:” I read most of this through selected chapter assignments for a communications class, “Critical Perspectives on Digital Society,” but unlike the other book, I enjoyed this quite a bit.
This is a textbook, for whatever that’s worth. Every chapter is long and dense and kind of tedious. The delivery is dry, and information is repeated to a point of near redundancy, likely to pad out the length of the book.
Being new to the communications field, however, I was fascinated by the crux of this book’s argument: that society can largely be defined as digital, mediated through 1s and 0s. It employs several perspectives and gives some historical background to the internet and other technology and other social phenomenon that has shaped digital interaction up until this point.
There’s a lot of non-positions taken by the author, wherein he resorts to pointing the proverbial finger to various different influx points that led to what he labels as “the digital,” and I kind of respect this instinct on a personal level, because the point here is to inform, not provoke. I wish it was a little spicier with its takes, though, and wasn’t so afraid to hitch itself to a specific theoretical lens’, though again, I understand the reason why it doesn’t.
I’m not afraid to recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in understanding digital society. I found it stimulating enough, all things considered, and was shocked to be so invested in a textbook. Not a lot more to say here, read it if you’re interested at all by what I’ve said here, which isn’t much, because I think the book largely speaks for itself.
This is a textbook, for whatever that’s worth. Every chapter is long and dense and kind of tedious. The delivery is dry, and information is repeated to a point of near redundancy, likely to pad out the length of the book.
Being new to the communications field, however, I was fascinated by the crux of this book’s argument: that society can largely be defined as digital, mediated through 1s and 0s. It employs several perspectives and gives some historical background to the internet and other technology and other social phenomenon that has shaped digital interaction up until this point.
There’s a lot of non-positions taken by the author, wherein he resorts to pointing the proverbial finger to various different influx points that led to what he labels as “the digital,” and I kind of respect this instinct on a personal level, because the point here is to inform, not provoke. I wish it was a little spicier with its takes, though, and wasn’t so afraid to hitch itself to a specific theoretical lens’, though again, I understand the reason why it doesn’t.
I’m not afraid to recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in understanding digital society. I found it stimulating enough, all things considered, and was shocked to be so invested in a textbook. Not a lot more to say here, read it if you’re interested at all by what I’ve said here, which isn’t much, because I think the book largely speaks for itself.
December 17, 2020
I read this book to prepare to teach an undergraduate course on "New Media and Communication Studies" in sociology. I found it to be a very well suited for social science college students being introduced to this field of study for the first time. It is organized in a clear and concise manner, and it covers many of the important theories and concepts in the field. It even includes practice exercises for the students to help them think through the topics, which I really like. I will definitely use excerpts from this in my course.
June 19, 2021
I had to read this book for my Social Media course and I absolutely hated it. The writing was extremely bland and dry, and it was really hard to stay focused. Most of the time, I would only skim through the chapters since I just couldn't retain any of the information for class. If you go quickly for definitions of key terms, or you're skimming for a general understanding of digital media and you have no background in it, it's fine. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend it.
March 9, 2018
I use this is an undergrad digital media course and I think it works well to introduce studnets to different perspectives, concepts, and names in the field.
December 16, 2020
Effective summation of a complex (sub)field. Definitely surface level on most things, but does reference a lot of the important sources needed to go deeper on a particular topic.
September 28, 2024
Textbook for school. Kind of boring at times but it did feel like I was actually learning something.
August 21, 2018
This review originally appeared in the August 2018 edition of "Technical Communication: Journal of the Society for Technical Communication".
The adage holds true: don’t judge a book by its cover, especially in the case of Digital Media & Society. While the book’s cover contains a whimsical photograph of a squirrel wielding a flamethrower, do not be fooled into thinking that the contents are equally whimsical. What lies within is a complex and detailed analysis of modern society and how digital information impacts it.
Lindgren presents an intense examination of society in the digital age. He breaks the book into four main sections: theories, topics, tools, and a conclusion. Each section is further divided into topics ranging from social media, to digital activism, to digital ethnography. Chapters begin with a callout highlighting key concepts and questions to be addressed by the chapter. For example, “How does the evolution of digital society relate to visual culture?” appears at the start of Chapter 6, Digital Visuality and Visibility (p. 109). Embedded within each chapter are exercises, such as, “Try to speculate about different things that might motivate people to take and share [selfies].…In a sociological sense: What does a selfie ‘say’?” (p. 114). Concluding each chapter are lists of suggested further reading materials. The chapter’s structure contains those elements but tied into a careful presentation and study of a given concept. Sources are cited, and examples given to provide context and to illustrate the concept Lindgren is examining. In this manner, he introduces you to a concept, provides the history of that concept, dissects it from a sociological viewpoint, while engaging you to think critically about the issue.
Overall, Digital Media & Society provides an insightful, in-depth investigation of modern society and how different forms of media affect it. Contemporary electronic media and their predecessors are well represented, ranging from an old school bulletin board system (BBS), to Snapchat, to Eric Snowden. If you are interested in learning about electronic media and why it affects your life and impacts the world today, then Digital Media & Society is a resource for you, even if you get it as a paperback and not digitally on your Kindle.
The adage holds true: don’t judge a book by its cover, especially in the case of Digital Media & Society. While the book’s cover contains a whimsical photograph of a squirrel wielding a flamethrower, do not be fooled into thinking that the contents are equally whimsical. What lies within is a complex and detailed analysis of modern society and how digital information impacts it.
Lindgren presents an intense examination of society in the digital age. He breaks the book into four main sections: theories, topics, tools, and a conclusion. Each section is further divided into topics ranging from social media, to digital activism, to digital ethnography. Chapters begin with a callout highlighting key concepts and questions to be addressed by the chapter. For example, “How does the evolution of digital society relate to visual culture?” appears at the start of Chapter 6, Digital Visuality and Visibility (p. 109). Embedded within each chapter are exercises, such as, “Try to speculate about different things that might motivate people to take and share [selfies].…In a sociological sense: What does a selfie ‘say’?” (p. 114). Concluding each chapter are lists of suggested further reading materials. The chapter’s structure contains those elements but tied into a careful presentation and study of a given concept. Sources are cited, and examples given to provide context and to illustrate the concept Lindgren is examining. In this manner, he introduces you to a concept, provides the history of that concept, dissects it from a sociological viewpoint, while engaging you to think critically about the issue.
Overall, Digital Media & Society provides an insightful, in-depth investigation of modern society and how different forms of media affect it. Contemporary electronic media and their predecessors are well represented, ranging from an old school bulletin board system (BBS), to Snapchat, to Eric Snowden. If you are interested in learning about electronic media and why it affects your life and impacts the world today, then Digital Media & Society is a resource for you, even if you get it as a paperback and not digitally on your Kindle.
February 24, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews