Creativity in the times of neoliberal digital surveillance devices — a study from Foucault, Han and Winnicott

Abstract

 Much of the discussion on digital panopticism is based on Foucaultian notions such as panopticism, surveillance and control, which Foucault devoted himself to examining when dealing specifically with technologies of disciplinary power. The objective of this article is to investigate digital panopticism and hyperexposure of the self, understood as characteristics of the virtual environment and their possible effects on subjectivity. To this end, we consider the virtual environment and its functioning as part of the neoliberal context of governing conduct. We first examine Foucault's notions of panopticism and confession, as well as Byung-Chul Han's studies on what he calls the society of transparency. In a second moment, we examine the possible effects of hyperexposure on subjectivity using Donald W. Winnicott's psychoanalytic theory as an analytical tool. It was possible to verify that the virtual environment functions analogously to the neoliberal art of governing subjectivities. Furthermore, it was possible to verify that, in the current ways of using the virtual environment, there is a potential for exhaustion and harm to mental health, taking into account the probable harm to creativity, as described by Winnicott.