Traces of Enframing (Ge-Stell) in Digimodernism: The Possible Loss of Identity

Abstract

In this paper, I present my reading of Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology.†I then argue that while we appreciate and relish the utility and efficiency that modern technology offers, and in this study, the use of digital devices and platforms, there is an equally alarming threat to our attitudes and thus, could possibly, in Heideggerian parlance, hinder man to reveal its originary being and thus, could lead to enframing. This paper further claims that there are traces latent in our modern culture that could lead to this danger. By examining our modern society, I contend that there are three phenomena that could lead to what Heidegger calls enframing: First is the systematic sexualization or objectification in our culture that propels humanity to order the other merely as a standing-reserve (bestand) for sexual pleasure and consequently become ordered ourselves through our thinking. Second is through a form of intimacy or relationship that considers the other merely as a social capital in the realm of social comparison. And the third trace is the lack of rationality and questioning in the midst of what Aaron Lynch calls as thought contagion.