JVF Conference Papers
Media and technologies are becoming more and more an inseparable part of contemporary societies and our everyday lives. Concerns regarding the consequences of this invasion are widespread. In general two notions prevail. One ascribes to technology the powers to create the unprecedented forms of sociability and individuality. The other considers technology as an effect of social demands. Within the theory, the understanding of technology oscillates between both alternatives: between the conception of technology as the cause of social change that is usually known as technological determinism and the conception of technology as being totally dependent on social demands...
