The Siren’s Song: The Body in Balance Between Real and Virtual
Rosa Iaquinta
Changes in socio-cultural paradigms have helped to give new meaning to the body, giving it a central role, both private and social, to the point of affecting the welfare state of young people and adults. The perception of the body contributes to the construction of identity, generating true and proper crises if not recognized as an expression of self or in accordance with contemporary canons. The online images dictate the characteristics of the perfect body, generating in the children a continuous work of comparison between reality and the virtual. It is essential for pedagogy not only to carry out a continuous hermeneutic reflection on the effects that the «ideal» models of social media generate, and which condition the construction of the bodily self, as well as introducing educational actions to deconstruct any false representation. The educational challenge is embodied in the promotion of Life Deep Learning and Critical Media Literacy, the aim being to bring about the recognition of the social and cultural influences of the time, so that young people can develop an authentic self-concept. Education, generating forms of awareness, allows young people to recognize the enchanting song of the sirens that promises forms of unattainable beauty, so as to prevent situations of anxiety and depression, eating disorders and desire, The European Commission has been working on this issue since the beginning of the year.
Keywords
Body, critical media literacy, education, lifedeep learning.
