Saturated Self

The concept of the saturated self was developed by Kenneth J. Gergen in his volume The Saturated Self (Gergen, 1991). It refers to the dramatic expansion in the range of relations (real, virtual, and imagined) in which the individual is increasingly immersed. This expansion is largely attributed to the accumulation of twentieth‐century communication technologies such as radio, television, the Internet, and cell phones (among others). The resulting transformation in everyday life includes an expansion and com‐plexification of the individual's repertoire of “ways of being” (e.g., attitudes, values, opinions, moralities, styles of relating), a compounding of evaluative standards applied to the self, an infinite expansion of opportunities, and an expanding sea of obligations. In Gergen's terms, one becomes multiphrenic . As a general orientation to life, the expansion in the range of realities, reasons, and moralities to which one is exposed leads to a consciousness of construction. Increasingly suspect are traditional claims to truth, objectivity, and reason. At the interpersonal level, the condition of saturation leads to a receding sense of authenticity and to a diminishing in the time and attention devoted to any particular relationship. The result is a loss of enduring emotional intensity and commitment.