Media Ecology and the Internet of Things

Abstract

Abstract Media ecologists and philosophers of technology are now asking many of the same scholarly questions. Both disciplines examine the human experience through the lens of technology. The Media Ecology perspective is attentive to communicative media experiences that impact humans. Philosophy of Technology (PhilTech) is also concerned with human-technology connection and the nature of social effects. The ideas and methods both disciplines use overlap and provide reified proof that technologies make a difference in practical everyday contexts. Both sets of scholars aim to prove that technology does not lack effect. It is time to formally consider how these two disciplines converge. This reflection aims to formalize and encourage the link between Media Ecology and PhilTech. The Internet of Things (IoT) will serve as an illustrative example for this analysis. The first section introduces PhilTech and the contribution Media Ecology has made in that discipline. The second section defines and explains the IoT. The final section illustrates ways in which Media Ecology can be used as a subgenre of PhilTech.