Technological Determinism in the film "Eighth Grade"

 As we learned in lecture, technological determinism can be explained as the belief that technological innovations have the power to shape our world, independent of any other factors, whether they be social, political, or economical. Technological determinism invites us to view technology as the single cause of big change in our world. As we saw in the film “Eighth Grade”, Kayla struggles with the weight of technological determinism which causes her to experience real-world social anxiety. Kayla is an eighth-grade student who utilizes social media for her everyday acceptance. It is obvious that Kayla needs social media and technology to stay alive as her head is constantly in her phone to the point that she can hardly speak to her father at the dinner table. Technology controls Kayla’s moods, it is at the forefront of her everyday life. We see her at her highest highs when creating her YouTube videos, and some of her lowest lows when put in real world social situations. There are two different Kayla’s throughout the film. One is a socially awkward thirteen-year-old who has trouble making face-to-face connections at school, and the other is an outgoing girl who puts on a façade and urges others to be confident on her YouTube channel. Kayla repeatedly mentions throughout the film that she is “not shy”, meaning that she holds no reservations about putting herself out there on social media, but she struggles to prove that she isn’t fearful in real-life social situations. Throughout the film, we begin to see how social media can play a destructive role in shaping one’s identity and representation. Kayla’s relationship with social media begins to alter the choices she makes and the in-person conversations she is able to have as the film depicts that avid social media use makes for unhealthy comparisons, and unreachable goals. Throughout Kayla’s journey, we were able to see how dangerously influential and harmful associating social media with pre-teens and younger children can be. We see Kayla’s reliance on social media introduce her to a world of false identities, as the person she is online is completely different compared to her real self. Technological determinism evidently impacts Kayla’s social skills and seems to be the cause of her social anxieties and struggle for acceptance at school. Kayla’s lack of social skills become blatantly obvious when she tries to speak to Aiden in person as she can hardly form a sentence. The film gave insight to the theoretical perspective of the social construction of technology as Kayla tries her hardest to express her true self on social media but always falls short in real life. In conclusion, it becomes apparent that Kayla’s relationship with social media was not only a source of her anxieties (unrealistic goals, comparisons) but was a way that she would cope with her anxiety (by posting upbeat YouTube videos, surfing the web to escape reality). This proves Kayla’s strong feelings of technological determinism as Kayla is only able to navigate life with technology by her side as it seems to determine the cultural values and social structures she found herself in.

 

Using Kayla’s unhealthy relationship with social media and the recent COVID-19 pandemic as an example, did you feel that you had trouble having face-to-face conversations after the pandemic considering we spent over a year primarily communicating with people online?