Technological Determinism in the Film Eighth Grade

 As digital media tends to grow and develop, it creates a causal effect on our society. For example, social media platforms have changed the way in which we communicate with others. Instead of face-to-face conversations, we are able to hide behind the screen and type whatever we want without feeling as much pressure. This is an example of technological determinism and how it works. Essentially, the technology a society uses will affect and determine a society’s social structure and values. Although technology comes with a range of benefits, it still has its downsides. Baym talks about how digital media and its interactivity is often the cause of an individual’s anxiety. 

In the film “Eighth Grade” we follow the life of Kayla and get a look at her world through social media. By taking a technological determinist perspective, we can see how social media and its interactive aspects can cause anxiety for Kayla. For example, Kayla makes self-help videos that she posts on YouTube. At the beginning of the film, we see Kayla say in one of her videos that she has not been getting a lot of views lately, and she really wants her fans to share her videos with all their friends. The fact that Kayla isn’t getting any views on her videos makes her sad and nervous. She is questioning whether or not her videos are good enough. By looking at this from a technological determinist standpoint, we can see how these videos are shaping Kayla’s world. She thinks that by gaining more of an audience on her videos, maybe she will become more popular in school. Kayla struggles to make friends in school and thinks that the popularity of these videos might be the key to making more friends, and getting her crush, Aiden, to like her.


Cassidy Bradshaw

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