| This thesis is an attempt to understand the impact of technological change from a depth psychological perspective using the methodology of alchemical hermeneutics. The understanding of technology is based on the work of Marshall McLuhan, who showed that technology, as a medium, works as metaphor to shape the world in a particular way. When a new medium is introduced, the world is reconstituted to reflect the new sensibilities of the new medium. Currently, society is undergoing a significant change, in which dominant media are increasingly electronic, instead of typographical and mechanical. As a result, youth are more and more becoming stuck in a particular holding pattern, the archetype of the puer aeternus, as they attempt to negotiate between two conflicting worlds. This thesis thus reframes the symptoms of puer personalities as an attempt by young people to establish creative, new identities in the changing technological world. |
