Ecologia dei media. Manifesto per una comunicazione gentile

Translated title of the contribution: [Autom. eng. transl.] Media ecology. Manifesto for kind communication

Fausto Colombo

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

[Autom. eng. transl.] In recent years, environmental sensitivity has been growing all over the world, and we can hope that it balances, at least in part, the damage that our species is causing to itself and to the planet on which it lives. Air quality and water availability, overheating, desertification are problems that our own development, however surprising and in some ways exciting and wonderful, has brought with it. Now these problems question the survival of humanity, and therefore the voices that arise - from those learned by scientists to those full of emotion and hope of the young people of the Friday for Future movement, passing through the teaching of Pope Francis - are something more than a complaint: they are a call to action, a passionate request to find new ways to defend our common good, the land that feeds us and makes us live. Perhaps comparing the dramatic quality of our environment to the problematic structure of communication may seem irreverent, yet this is precisely the challenge I want to propose: communication today (in its public version, which is not limited to media practices) presents a series of problems and critical points never previously noted, in spite of the extraordinary opportunities that the communication tools seem to offer to an ever-growing number of people. Some of these problems pollute daily life and often have dramatic consequences on social coexistence: it is - for example - hate speeches disseminated on social media, or false or unfounded knowledge that sometimes replaces scientific evidence and even common sense. There are tendencies - such as the experience of being continually connected, the need for self-exposure, the sometimes unsustainable acceleration of our sense of time - that seem to bring new challenges to the definition of being human. Finally, certain practices (think of the control to which users are subjected by the platforms by monitoring their behavior or changing the mechanisms of social influence, entrusted to celebrities that are not always reliable or trustworthy) suggest a transformation of the mechanisms of collective life. Overall, therefore, some current trends seem to constitute a framework of overall degradation not only of the media, but more generally of that essential resource for the human species which is communication. In short, the parallel between environmental pollution and symbolic pollution is more than a daring analogy. This is why I think it is appropriate - and indeed urgent - to reflect on the quality of communication as a typically human resource, identify its current state, and if possible try to interpret the anxiety of the present time. An approach of this kind can consequently be defined ecological in two fundamental meanings. The first, inspired by ecology as a science, consists of describing the media as a whole, observing their evolution and questioning their consequences on human life. In this sense, the questions that arise are: how is the media ecosystem configured today? What are its distinctive features compared to its previous stages? What role do the media play in shaping communication rules and customs today, and what forms of communication tend to prevail through them? The second meaning, scientifically less correct, but now cleared through customs in common language, is that of caring for the environment: if the consequences of the evolution of the ecosystem go in a threatening or at least dangerous direction for human life, ecological concern it materializes in strategies and behaviors that can reverse the trend, and save the
Translated title of the contribution[Autom. eng. transl.] Media ecology. Manifesto for kind communication
Original languageItalian
PublisherVita e Pensiero, Milano
Number of pages106
ISBN (Print)9788834341063
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • ecologia
  • media
  • media digitali
  • piattaforme

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