This study examines how the nexus between trauma, memory, and identity within digital spaces in Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This elucidates the societal impact of life “in the portal”—an immersive digital world where public and private selves become indistinct. It analyzes how the narrative reflects the psychological ramifications of online immersion, where identity formation and memory are subjects to constant online visibility and performativity. The study scrutinizes the novel’s portrayal of digital trauma through fragmented consciousness, mapping the protagonist’s struggle with memory loss and identity dislocation through close textual analysis and an interdisciplinary framework combining trauma theory, digital culture studies, and identity theory. Employing qualitative content analysis, the study also incorporates secondary insights from digital sociology and psychoanalysis to explore how Lockwood’s depiction corresponds to real-world experiences of digital-induced alienation. The outcome indicates the erosion of privacy and the impact of digital mediation on personal and collective memory, demonstrating how digital spaces heighten psychological and emotional vulnerability and destabilize identity. The study, thus, emphasizes the necessity to critically examine the effects of the digital environment on mental health and self-perception, offering broader implications for understanding the poetics of trauma in the digital age.
Prasad et al. (Fri,) studied this question.