COVID-19 and The Traumatized Self: Through the Digital Looking Glass

Abstract

The work connects classic theories of selfing to the COVID-19 pandemic to make fresh connections between pandemic-induced trauma to the self and digital resources. This research introduces the concept of the “traumatized self” emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to digital disadvantage and digital hyperconnectivity. From Cooley’s original “looking glass self” to Wellman’s “hyperconnected” individualist self, social theories of identity work, and production of the self have a long and interdisciplinary history. In documenting this history, the discussion outlines key foci in the theorizing of the digital self by mapping how digital selfing and identity work have been treated from the inception of the internet to the epoch of the pandemic. The work charts the evolution of the digital selfing project from key theoretical perspectives, including postmodernism, symbolic interactionism, and dramaturgy. Putting these approaches in dialogue with the traumatized self, this research makes a novel contribution by introducing the concept of digitally differentiated trauma, which scholars can employ to better understand selfing processes in such circumstances and times.

Citation

Robinson, L., Schulz, J., Moles, K. and Wiest, J.B. (2024), "COVID-19 and The Traumatized Self: Through the Digital Looking Glass", Moreira, S.V., Moles, K., Robinson, L. and Schulz, J. (Ed.) Creating Culture Through Media and Communication (Studies in Media and Communications, Vol. 24), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 113-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2050-206020240000024009