Existential Media Studies: A New Perspective on Human Existence in the Digital Environment

In foreign media studies since the early 2010s, a new direction has emerged that offers an original approach to studying media and various contemporary media phenomena - Existential Media Studies. The founder of this direction, Amanda Lagerkvist, emphasizes the need to fill the deficit of existential content in media theory. In this context, media are studied not as communication channels, social institutions, or material artifacts, but primarily as environments and ways of existence for modern humans. Central to this is the question of what it means to be human in the age of digitalization. Thus, media are examined from the perspective of ontological and philosophical-anthropological issues as an existential phenomenon, with key ideas and principles developed in existential philosophy of the 19th and 20th centuries serving as methodological foundations. This article outlines the main themes of existential media studies, which have shaped their development and current state. This work will contribute to further discussions about the prospects of existential media studies both abroad and in Russia.