Memory and Powеr in the Context of Internet Technologies

Abstract

The article explores the role of digital technologies in the process of forming the memory of a modern person. Attention is focused on the individual characteristics of the transformation of information into knowledge, which is fixed in the memory. In addition, the significance of the influence of power actors on the selectivity of individual memory in the context of Internet technologies. Using the methods of critical philosophical reflection and dialectical logic, the article shows the contradictory nature of the influence of digital technologies on the memory of a modern person in terms of its depth, thoroughness, and stability. The practice of using digital technologies in relation to memory is analysed and power demonstrates their clear correlation in promoting the aspirations of people who seek to subjugate others to their will, as the power over the memory of recipients is one of the main conditions for their subjugation and control. People who seek to subjugate others to their will activate the memory structures that are beneficial, and citizens are called upon to support them officially. To achieve this, new forms of information processing and presentation are used, including the psychotechnologies that allow individuals to bypass critical thinking. In addition, Internet technologies allow for the covert manipulation of user memory in order to satisfy the interests of those in power. The research’s logic led to the conclusion that the knowledge stored in individual memory is largely influenced by the moral values and ideals that guide individuals. The Internet merely facilitates the presentation of these values and ideals, which have always been diverse. At the same time, virtual space has become yet another arena for the struggle for ideals that determine the selectivity of memory, requiring control by the state and civil society.

For citation: Mozzhilin S.I., Ryazanov A.V. Memory and Powеr in the Context of Internet Technologies. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2026, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 116–123. https://doi.org/10.37482/2687-1505-V547