Sensibility, Addiction and Digitality: Perspectives on Being Post-Digital

From Negroponte's Being Digital we have moved into a whole different period of being post-digital with predictably short time span that made it possible to declare a new post-periodization to set in. Not honored with a theoretical terminology of its own, digital capitalism grows at a steep pace even in the days of one of the deepest economic crisis of last century and possibly of this, of this is only a beginning of tendencies that take shape. What in the economic world is called a new normal of economic conjuncture appears to have its pendant in the psychological new normal of addictive sensibility, addictive environments and addictive digitality that come into representative shapes in art exhibitions, computer games, amusement parks and historical districts that rest increasingly on digital media, caffeinated drinks and aesthetic sensibility to get their message across our increasingly distractive environments of instant communication, information overload, and nomadic lifestyles. These dimensions become ever more definitive as cities all over the world put ever increasing numbers of coffee shops on the maps of their flagship airports, art districts and upscale downtowns, ever thicker Wi-Fi network coverage and computer infrastructure into their daily operation, ever more money into art projects, museums and events, and ever more effort into fighting addictions to substances engendering dependencies strong and weak.