Digital Media as a New Means of Mediation (Part One)

Abstract

The article begins the cycle “Digital media as a new means of mediation”. “Digitalization” is interpreted as a challenge to contemporary psychology in general and cultural-historical theory in particular. The results of a theoretical and methodological analysis of the possibilities of regarding digital media as a new phenomenon, combining components of a sign and of a tool, are presented. Possible directions of research on various aspects of applying digital media in the framework of the cultural-historical concept are discussed. It is argued, that perceiving digital media as a new means of mediation opens a wide range of possibilities for investigating development of higher mental functions in digital society. One of the further steps of research consists in demonstrating, how traditional types of activity (e.g. reading, writing, play and communication) are transformed in digital contexts and what effects it can have on such functions as attention, memory, will and thinking.