Bodies between screens and mirrors: the primacy of gaze and image in digital culture

Abstract

This article is part of the field of studies on digital technologies and contemporary subjectivities and aims to analyze the construction of the body in light of the primacy of the gaze and image in digital culture. Based on the concept of narcissism present in Freud’s work and the theorization about the mirror stage carried out by J. Lacan, specularity in social networks is examined, considering the particular logic of those in which interaction between users takes place through the production of images. Thus, the predominant identification model in the way of creating a bond in digital culture is problematized, highlighting its effects on the relationship that the subject establishes with the dimension of their own body, which comes to be taken as a pure image. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the act of sharing photos of oneself on social networks has become part of the narcissistic dynamics of the contemporary subject, in which social recognition seems to have expanded to digital recognition, expressed through likes, comments and shares. These reflections indicate possible impacts of the act of seeing and being seen on screens, renewing the discussion about the relationship between the subject, the mirror image and the Other in digital culture.