Technological Determinism and the film “Eighth Grade”

 Technological determinism is one of Nancy Baym’s four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology society. From the perspective of technological determinism, technology is seen as a causal agent that changes society - in other words, technology is seen as something that happens to people. Using this perspective, we can see the anxiety about the interactivity of new digital media in the film Eight Grade through the way that social media affects Kayla. In this film, social media has a huge impact on the way Kayla interacts with others, her relationships with people, and the way she presents herself. For example, Kayla regularly uploads YouTube videos discussing confidence and putting yourself out there but she is the exact opposite in real life. She presents herself as an extroverted and confident person in these videos while in reality she is very shy and introverted. Another way that social media impacts Kayla can be seen in her relationship with her father. Although Kayla’s father tries to communicate and connect with her, she usually ignores him because she is constantly on social media.