Volume 5, Number 1, Spring 2025

EN:

We argue that jokes are not just about the ha-ha and laughter, but they are a technology,and a medium that create an environment and they have a serious purpose. We examine the mediumof the joke making particular use of the work of three scholars who made a serious effort to understandthe phenomenon of the joke and humor, namely Sigmund Freud (1916) in his book Jokes and TheirRelation to the Unconscious, Johan Huizinga (1971) in his book Homo Ludens and Marshall McLuhan(1964) in his book Understanding Media and his other writings. For Freud jokes like dreams are themedium to reach the unconscious mind. For Huizinga play, puns and games that are closely related tojokes are a universal aspect of human culture dating back to our very origin. For McLuhan jokes areabout grievances and a way people deal with them.

EN:

This article presents a critical literature review of the relationship between social media use and thedevelopment of personality disorder features, particularly among young people. Drawing on psychologicaltheory, psychological study, developmental research, and Marshall McLuhan’s famous probe “The medium isthe message” (McLuhan, 1964, p. 7), this review examines key findings across disciplines while offeringinterpretive insights into emerging behavioral patterns. A large body of data now shows a stark rise inindividuals aged 12-25 experiencing mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, suicidality,hospitalizations, and chronic low self-esteem. While these symptoms have been widely discussed, this paperexplores the deeper structural implications of these outcomes—specifically, how long-term social media usemay be shaping identity and contributing to the emergence of Cluster B personality traits, including borderlineand histrionic features, affecting relationships, real-life problems (finding joy, goal setting for the future,employment), and simply “growing up”. Synthesizing studies on self-image, child development, personalitydisorders, and influencer culture, this review highlights a critical gap in current discourse: not just what ishappening to mental health, but why, and the collateral damages of the ripple effects. This review connectsestablished psychological theories to patterns of online behavior, proposing that the medium itself (socialmedia) may be rewiring the developing brain, contributing to a newly dominant FPL or “fourth personalitylayer”—a digital self that increasingly dictates offline thought, behavior, and sense of identity. This reviewcontributes to a deeper understanding of how social media may not just reflect who we are, but activelyconstruct who we become.

EN:

Toronto School of Communication Theory is not only a success story but also avision and practice of creating and building the country's intellectual future. For decades,scholars at Canada's leading university have contributed to their homeland's originaldevelopment, choosing the paradigm of orientation between economy and history, differentfrom the development paths of the United States and Europe. Finding one's niche in the worldof ideas and innovations is a result of the need to overcome the challenges faced by society.For this purpose, collective intellect is one of the efficient tools that the illustriousrepresentatives of the School of Communication Theory in Toronto offer. Multidisciplinarity, asa working method, has profoundly influenced the evolution of the concept of communication inthe university environment, which contributed to the growth of contemporary political thought(and not only) in Canada and abroad.