The adverse psychological impacts of digital technology: critiquing Schulman’s this beautiful life from postmodern insights

Abstract

This study aims to examine the psychological effects of digital technology on individuals by analyzing the characters of Jake and Daisy in This Beautiful Life. It also focuses on how the postmodern trend of imbibing the ethos and spirit of late capitalist consumer culture and the commodification of subjectivity put extreme pressure on individuals, leading to their disintegration and degeneration. The study uses the theoretical ideas and insights of leading postmodern theorists, such as Arthur Kroke and David Kroke, to analyze the harmful effects of the postmodern trend of simulating double identity in excess. It explores the causes of the psychic deviations and disintegration of Jake and Daisy within the postmodern context. This research is a qualitative analysis of the novel by using a postmodern theoretical framework to analyze the characters of Jake and Daisy and their actions and choices in the novel. The study finds that the harsh psychological effects of digital technology are evident in the characters of Jake and Daisy. Their unrestrained involvement in the postmodern trend of imbibing the ethos and spirit of late capitalist consumer culture leads to the degeneration and decadence of their psychic integrity. Meanwhile, Daisy's mundane and monotonous life leads her to construct fantasies in her mind, leading her to embark on a sporadic spree of murdering her close friends. The study concludes that the postmodern trend of imbibing the ethos and spirit of late capitalist consumer culture and the commodification of subjectivity have a detrimental effect on individuals' psychological well-being. The lack of postmodern trend to erase the boundary between the normal and the abnormal exacerbates the situation, leading individuals to become cruel and violent.