Analog Hunger in a Digital World: Confronting Today’s Identity Crisis

Renowned psychologist Paul Vitz addresses the troubling fact that scientific progress is no longer making human beings happy. In fact, the reverse trend is taking hold: individuals are more distressed and struggle with overwhelming confusion regarding personal identity and the meaningfulness of life as technology makes daily life more ’manageable.’ Vitz asserts there is a noteworthy connection between the sense of personal identity and flourishing, and the connection between well-being and technological progress has been largely severed because ’progress’ in this sense encourages various ways ’losing sight of oneself.’

Vitz argues that the ＂special digital way in which technology is destroying our well-being will require some new vocabulary... [while] making the case that analog experience is the only reliable source of meaning in our lives and that its loss has led to the growth of meaninglessness and especially to the loss of [personal identity.＂ This book is written for those who are enthralled by the digital realm and tech advancements, but also for those who are affected by contemporary crises in culture and identity. Vitz’s approach is far-reaching and concise. ＂After describing the nature of analog and digital codes in chapters 1 and 2, I then note the great importance of the right and left brain hemispheres to analog and digital differences in chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 5 introduces the cultural crisis of today as analog hunger in a digital world. Chapters 6 and 7 identify the problem as extreme uncontrolled digitalism, with a focus on transhumanism. Chapter 8 presents ways to recover analog life and chapter 9 makes clear we need both codes. Chapter 10 provides a solution involving the integration of the two codes in the service of the analog from a distinctly religious perspective.＂

Paul C. Vitz is Professor of Psychology Emeritus at New York University and recently Senior Scholar Emeritus at Divine Mercy University. His work has focused on integrating Christian theology, especially Catholic anthropology, with psychology. He is the author of Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship 2nd ed.; Sigmund Freud’s Christian Unconscious; Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism, 2nd ed.; and The Self: Beyond the Post-modern Crisis.

Paul Vitz is an internationally recognized psychologist and speaker, whose work on more abstract notions has evolved to concrete language and advice pertaining to human communication and relations. His books have been widely read and he continues to lecture and speak on this topic, and has appeared in most major publications that deal with faith and culture, as well as many non-affiliated psychology magazines and journals.