Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

Jacques A. Wainberg 106 the media in their performance. It means that he considers the way the media operate and sensitize the audience. It turns out that even this consideration has been extensively analyzed, for example, in the Theory of the Environment. As it is possible to criticize the expression “Knowledge Age” to name our time since, after all, knowledge has always been a relevant factor, at all times, there is a doubt about the need for a new label as mediatization. It rose, in my view, due to the fascination that new technologies such as the internet and the resources of the web and mobile telephony are exercising on people. This fascination should grow with the new stage of the development of the techno-sphere, which is now marked by the robotization of life, artificial intelligence, algorithms, miniatur- ization, satellites, applications, and big data. We all know that there is mediatization, that the pres- ence and influence of the format, grammar, content, and pace of the media are magnanimous, that people and institutions inter- nalize in their actions, sometimes unconsciously, the language and resources of the media, and that the media can, therefore, be considered a relevant and independent autonomous factor. At all stages of the story, actors have always adapted to it. Nowadays, it is difficult to talk about social life with - out involving the analysis of the virtual world created by these technologies. I suggest that the concept of mediatization will ac- quire greater consistency as empirical studies show more and more how this influence of the media in social daily life occurs in varied fields, among them, unquestionably, education, politics, religion, war, and peace, the family, health. For my part, from the references of my moment per- sonal interests, I think it may be relevant to list what are the emotional consequences of such a symbiosis between commu- nication technologies and sociability. Based on this reference, I think that mediatization happens because it is necessary for the mobilization of human affect. They are the ones that push people to action. Both massive hatred and worship, for example, are only possible if the actors take into account the media’s abil- ity to reach people, awake them from sleepwalking, satisfy their dreams and impulses. It is true for entertainment as well as for politics and collective education.