Will The Future Like You? Reflections on the Age of Hyper-reinvention looks at the impact of digital life on the human psyche, especially personal identity. Filled with fascinating findings, based on ten years of research, the book contains captivating, important, and helpful ideas for all of us navigating this rapidly changing digital age.
Patricia Martin explores the hidden forces shaping our sense of self in an age of relentless connectivity and surging transformation. Based on a ten-year study of the changing nature of identity as influenced by technology, she reveals conditions unraveling who we are: persona fog, chronic self-doubt, and cascading crossroads. Readers will recognize the ensuing symptoms, which they’ve likely felt but couldn’t pin down. The research is brought to life by stories of people who faced their crossroads, built resilience for uncertainty, and fed their souls as they transformed their lives. Told through the eyes of the researcher whose identity is torn asunder by a succession of surprising blows, what started as a systematic examination of the impact of technology on the psyche morphed into a revelatory adventure of what it means to regain the thread of self in an era of churning dynamism. Blending memoir, psychology, cultural criticism, and reportage, the book offers a psychological and soulful portrait of the person who will thrive in the digital age.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
1. The Disruptive Power of Persona Fog
2. Identity Is Wired to Adapt
3. The Disruptive Power of Chronic Self-Doubt
4. The Consciousness Thing
5. The Disruption of Cascading Crossroads
6. Overwhelm
7. Coda
Addendum: New Nodes of the False Self
References
Index
