{"id":6817,"date":"2025-10-21T09:50:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T07:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/?post_type=hbi-news&#038;p=6817"},"modified":"2025-10-23T17:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:59:28","slug":"ways-out-of-digital-numbness","status":"publish","type":"hbi-news","link":"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-news\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways Out of Digital Numbness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/employee\/matthias-c-kettemann\/\">Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann<\/a> is a guest on the podcast \u201cCarls Future\u201d by futurologist Michael Carl. In the interview, he discusses the challenges and opportunities of the digital information society. The focus is on how people can distinguish facts from false reports in an increasingly disinformative and emotionally charged media landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=orMJ_GDV2t0\">here<\/a> to listen to the podcast Carls Zukunft&#8221; [Carl&#8217;s Future]. The interview was conducted in German.<\/p>\n<h2>Summary by the Host<\/h2>\n<p>Matthias C. Kettemann notes that a communicative overload weakens our &#8220;cognitive immune system.&#8221; Amid constant digital stimulation, people react like allergy sufferers to too much pollen; they become unsettled, panicked, or angry. However, Matthias remains optimistic. He believes that education is the strongest antidote, not only in schools, but also throughout society, reaching even grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>His warning against a self-fulfilling prophecy is striking: Those who talk too much about disinformation will soon see nothing else. The constant invocation of manipulation creates a climate of powerlessness \u2014 a state in which anger entrepreneurs offer simple explanations: &#8220;Foreigners,&#8221; &#8220;public broadcasters,&#8221; and &#8220;those at the top&#8221; are to blame.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is not so much the fake news as it is the lost ability to deal with ambiguity. Matthias advocates for a new discourse ecology, in which platforms must be transparent about what they amplify. Algorithms should promote debate as well as clicks. Users \u2014 all of us \u2014 must understand our attention as a political commodity once again. The way out of digital numbness begins with self-criticism of our scrolling behavior, not with technology regulation. The off button is there. We just have to press it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1221,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6817","hbi-news","type-hbi-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ways Out of Digital Numbness - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matthias C. Kettemann is a guest on the podcast \u201cCarls Future\u201d by futurologist Michael Carl. During the interview, Kettemann discusses the challenges and opportunities of the digital information society. Kettemann observes a communicative overload that weakens our &quot;cognitive immune system.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-news\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ways Out of Digital Numbness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matthias C. Kettemann is a guest on the podcast \u201cCarls Future\u201d by futurologist Michael Carl. During the interview, Kettemann discusses the challenges and opportunities of the digital information society. Kettemann observes a communicative overload that weakens our &quot;cognitive immune system.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/en\/hbi-news\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T15:59:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leibniz-hbi.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Matthias-C.-Kettemann-Header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-news\\\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-news\\\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ways Out of Digital Numbness - Leibniz Institut f\u00fcr Medienforschung | Leibniz Institute for Media Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-news\\\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/en\\\/hbi-news\\\/ways-out-of-digital-numbness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leibniz-hbi.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/Matthias-C.-Kettemann-Header.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-21T07:50:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T15:59:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"Matthias C. 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