Beyond Digital Mirrors. Writeable Selves and the Illusion of Agency in Digital Representation

This paper aims to offer a theoretical contribution to understanding how identity formation is affected by the digital environment, drawing on psychoanalysis and philosophy of communication. It responds to recent studies, such as those by UNESCO and the Karolinska Institutet, that link declining student competencies in Europe to increased digital media use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on Jacques Lacan’s concept of the “mirror stage”, the paper explores how human identity is initially formed through external reflections, emphasizing that the self is not a unified, autonomous entity but a fragmented one constructed through external images and illusions. The scientific objective is to reinterpret Lacan’s theory within the framework of contemporary digital culture – especially in the biocybernetic, imagedriven context of the 21st century. The mirror metaphor is expanded to include media such as books, screens, and interfaces, all of which serve as “mirrors” that shape identity through symbolic and imaginary orders. In contrast to the fixed, closed structure of print media in the Gutenberg era, today’s interactive digital mirrors actively engage users in identity construction. However, these digital systems often manipulate desire and reinforce normative images, offering only the illusion of self-determination. Philosophers such as W. J. T. Mitchell and Kaja Silverman are referenced to explain the cultural shift from textual to visual representation – what Mitchell calls the “pictorial turn”. The paper investigates how identity is mediated through images and argues that the digital mirror, while seemingly flexible, often imposes constraints on self-perception and reaffirms external control over the subject’s symbolic positioning.