Introduction: Why Digital Media Metaphors Matter

Digital technologies have become increasingly embedded in human experience and sensemaking across the globe. To capture both the promises and pitfalls of these technologies, people often invoke a series of metaphors. In this introduction, we outline how metaphors shape not only our understanding of digital phenomena, but also the ways in which we act in relation to them. As such, digital media metaphors play a key role across everyday life, journalism, scholarship, and policymaking. This chapter outlines the theoretical backdrop for the book, its aims, and its structure. Doing so, it captures why digital media metaphors deserve careful and critical attention.