Visuality as a key aspect of cultural experience transformation of a modern individual

Abstract

The paper discusses the new paradigm of the modern society which the majority of scholars describe as "media society" which is characterized by the transformation of the cultural discourse of everyday life. Such transformation is associated with the "visual turn", which has led to the changes in the functions and the status of images, different usage of the visual information. The highlight of the article is that the perception of the world by an individual is becoming increasingly mediated by the multitude of images provided by the world around us. It should be noted that there is a shift in the modern ways of perceiving from verbal to visual and imaginative. In the era of "reality media" everyday life with its current events, repeating solicitudes and established structure loses its steadiness and stability. It is continually subjected to transformation under the influence of high-speed and mobile visual images. New channels of communication, which are regarded as new media now, play a dominant role in everyday life reflecting the process of society modernization. These new media have brought about new modes of interaction, leading to a qualitative change in everyday human communication. Visuality as a universal characteristic of modern daily life has become a significant factor in the construction of social practices, lifestyles, habitus of a modern person and his identity. In the era of globalization and the "universal computer systems" the main topical issues of the visualization of everyday life require rethinking of methods of media images study that should be included in the broader context of interdisciplinary research.