In the late 1980s, the Internet kept changing continuously. Which reshaped how we consume and interact with information. Platforms will rise and fall, but their influence remains constant our online choices more often than not feel autonomous yet are carefully dictated by digital rhetoric. Applen writes, “We think we are making unique choices that reflect who we are as individuals, but this is illusionary.” Each click or scroll results from persuasive design to influence behavior.
Eyman introduces Manovich’s five principles of new media: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. These modularity and variability are those that explain today’s digital trend. Modularity enables independent units of images, hyperlinks, and text to combine seamlessly, while it also ensures that the content is never fixed but always stable. Together, they will keep users within a constant loop of exploration, clicking, and consumption.
This also shows McLuhan’s idea that “the medium is the message.” Just as an oil painting and a graphite sketch of the same scene show different emotions, so does the digital medium shape our perception of information. For example, traveling once depended on guidebooks concise and curated.Today, TikToks and Reels offer rapid, visually engaging snapshots: “Three must-try spots in Barcelona.” They feed our hunger for instant information while reshaping expectations of depth and effort.
According to the text Applen states that new technologies changes “the scale, pace, or pattern” of human affairs. The fast pace of the media normalizes fast consumption and often blinds us from the manipulation behind it. To navigate responsibly, users must question not only what they see but how they see it recognizing the medium itself influences meaning and culture. Digital autonomy begins with awareness. Without it, we risk becoming passive participants in the very systems that shape our desires.
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