Abstract

This chapter explores how digital technologies shape and propagate the kinds of narratives that we ascribe to ourselves and others and act in accordance with. Drawing on Richard Heersmink’s work on distributed narratives, I argue that digital technologies not only support and scaffold narratives but work as powerful mindshaping narrative devices. I explore the role of self-tracking devices and algorithmic profiling in shaping the narratives we adopt and are available to us, as well as changing the behaviours that align with those narratives. I close by outlining potential harms that arise from the use of such narrative devices, including the seductive power of digital narratives, the propagation of oppressive narratives and ideologies, risks of homogenisation, and concerns about the kind of co-operative action digital devices aim to support.