Advent of a New Space
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, governments around the world ordered lockdowns to reduce the spread of the pandemic. The lockdown placed restrictions on the operations of companies, as well as educational and social facilities. To mitigate the risk of infection, self-isolation and social distancing measures were introduced, and thus the endless wait for the return to normality began. Anxiety about the future, loneliness, disruption of hobbies, and above all, not being able to meet people face-to-face, caused great pain. As a result, we attempted to rebuild society through the Internet. Education and work were both resumed using Internet platforms, allowing people to connect to society in new ways. This web-centric life has affected not only people’s interactions but also their surrounding environments. Several companies started to reduce the physical space they occupy, working on growing their online presence instead. Also, people have established new multi-purpose spaces in their homes, to embrace activities such as exercising, working, and engaging in social life, which was previously done outside the home.
A study conducted by The Wall Street Journal showed that U.S citizens have been using the Internet for an average of 16 hours per day since the start of the pandemic, which is an increase of 4 hours, compared to the average of 12 hours pre-pandemic.1) Clearly, the pandemic has increased global internet usage. But the increase in time spent in virtual spaces is a double-edged sword. On one hand, access to technology has supported well-being through the opportunity to reconnect with society. On the other hand, issues regarding problematic internet use (PIU), such as compulsive use and obsession were noticed.2) People experiencing PIU feel happy when in virtual spaces but show extreme defensiveness and guilt when the subject of internet usage is brought up. Day-to-day activities like homework, household chores, and social interactions are neglected, pulling them deeper into isolation. Through the virtual space, we can come to understand why this happens. Just as the development of transportation created a metropolis space and the development of communication technology created a real-time interaction space, digital media technology has created a ubiquitous digital connection space.3) The ubiquitous digital connection space enables liberation from the physical constraints of the real world, like those caused by the lockdown. People from various locations connect to create a new ‘here’, thus being able to exist in the same location in cyberspace, despite their physical distance.
But there is one thing in this world that holds more importance than remote communication, and that is speed. It only takes a short amount of time for people who are far apart to connect. On this topic, the philosopher Paul Virilio criticizes the deconstruction of time and space by media [1977]. Unlike McLuhan and Flusser, who viewed the reduction in the distance between spaces by connection speed as an expansion of a new space [2012], Virilio believed it is a dissolution of space.4) This is because, in a space where everything is processed quickly, humans develop a tolerance to speed, and become greedy, expecting everything to be increasingly faster, which then becomes the new value to measure with. Soon, we will only attach meaning to the departure and arrival, the beginning and the end, rather than the entire process. Virilio discusses how this speed also destroys both private and public spaces [2000]. The ‘real-time’ element of media plays a decisive role in this. Live broadcasting allows us to go in and out of spaces and meetings throughout the world from our own location, and social media profiles also display an individual’s live presence. By going live on social media, users can interact remotely without the need for face-to-face contact. Real-time online interactions make the need for physical space meaningless. This is because things that were once physically distant are now no longer far away, and humans live a life beyond their concrete existence. Humans are now constrained by the physical spaces that were once seen as ‘free’.
In a digital space where everything is accelerated, what have we lost? It is none other than the space of transition between our departure and arrival, our beginning and end. Spaces between transitions, such as the liminal space, have ceased to exist due to speed. In a world where speed is expected, spaces of transition will become even more significant. Going through transitional spaces, people become aware of their state of change, allowing them to break away from outcome-oriented thinking. In these spaces, we can contemplate our intrinsic motivations and goals for our choices and develop moderation in speed and use of virtual space. Furthermore, we will be able to acquire new experiences and information through transitional spaces. From the simple stage of concentrating on results, there might be a point in time when we learn new things that we didn’t know.
We, who are accustomed to the virtual space, lose our original purpose for using this space. The virtual space has become parasitic, with the real world gradually losing its meaning, rather than becoming an extension of the real world. In a soon-to-come world no longer bound by pandemic restrictions, our way of existing in our space should go beyond staying connected, to being alive in the present.
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1) Michael J. Wolf, ⌜How Covid-19 Has Transformed the Amount of Time We Spend Online⌟, The Wall Street Journal,2020
2) ⌜Problematic Internet Use⌟, Victoria State Government Education and Training, 2021
3) Hye-ryun Shim, ⌜Media Philosophy in the 20th Century⌟, Greenbee, 2012, pg.254
4) Paul Virilio, ⌜Speed and Politics⌟, pg.243