Liminal Wordsmith

Rhetoric of the Digital Age

Gregory Ulmer, an American media theorist and professor emeritus at the University of Florida, defines electracy as the digital-age counterpart to literacy. He coined the term electracy in the 1990s as an analogy to literacy, and his work focuses on rhetoric, literacy, and digital culture.

In other words, literacy taught us how to communicate, think, and build a culture around reading and writing, whereas electracy teaches us how to do this in the digital world.

For example, in a literacy-based world we might keep a journal or diary. But since you, the reader, and I, the writer, are engaging with this blog post online, we are already participating in an electracy-based world, shaped by digital media and communication.

A key difference between literacy and electracy is that which they emphasize, with literacy emphasizing logic while electracy emphasizes affect. Writers can use the mood, feeling, and shared experiences of electracy to bring awareness to social issues like mental health awareness, poverty, and climate change. By utilizing digital platforms that are easily shared and accessible, writers can inspire compassion and unity by sharing images, using storytelling apps, and creating online communities to further spread their messages.

Electracy does not come without its faults though. Because electracy emphasizes images and emotions, and reaches the masses at substantial speed, it is easy for false information and misleading content to spread like wildfire. There is also a risk of addiction, with more social media outlets, such as TikTok and Instagram, utilizing algorithms to keep users engaged as often as possible.

Ultimately, electracy is here to stay. The challenge is not its presence, but our responsibility in choosing how it is used.  

Brittany Smith
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2 responses to “Rhetoric of the Digital Age”

  1. Bob Lynn Avatar
    Bob Lynn

    Brittany, your exploration of Ulmer’s electracy strikes right at the heart of our digital transformation. We’re living through a profound shift, aren’t we? One that’s reshaping not just how we communicate, but how we think, feel, and connect.

    Your journal-to-blog example captures this beautifully. Where once we wrote in private silence, we now share our thoughts in digital chorus. The old literacy world whispered; the new electracy world sings – sometimes harmoniously, sometimes cacophonously, but always collectively.

    I’m drawn to your point about affect over logic. This isn’t just a technical shift; it’s deeply human. We’ve moved from the head to the heart, from argument to experience. When climate activists share melting glacier videos, or mental health advocates post vulnerable stories, they’re not just informing us – they’re making us feel. That feeling becomes action. That action becomes change.

    But you’re absolutely right about the shadows in this bright digital landscape. Misinformation spreads like spilled paint on canvas, staining everything it touches. Those algorithms you mention? They’re puppet masters pulling our attention strings, keeping us scrolling, clicking, consuming. We become addicted to the very medium that was meant to liberate us.

    Yet here’s where I find hope in your conclusion. You frame this as our responsibility, our choice. We’re not passive victims of electracy; we’re active participants. We can curate our digital diets. We can fact-check before we share. We can create spaces for genuine connection rather than performative display.

    The challenge isn’t to resist electracy – it’s already woven into our daily fabric. Instead, we must become wise gardeners of this digital ecosystem, nurturing truth, empathy, and authentic discourse while weeding out manipulation and falsehood.

    What do you think shapes our responsibility most: individual discipline or collective digital literacy education?

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    1. Brittany Smith Avatar
      Brittany Smith

      Bob, thank you for the thoughtful reply. I think it takes both personal responsibility and collective education. On our own, we can choose what to share and how to engage, but bigger cultural shifts come when digital literacy is taught and practiced together. Both sides matter if we want genuine connection instead of just noise.

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