Framing Digital Culture

This chapter examines the role of frames in structuring visual experience within digital culture. Images are ubiquitous across contemporary digital cultures. While digital experiences engage multiple senses, vision remains central to how we navigate and understand the world. The concept of the frame—from physical screens to virtual windows—provides a crucial analytical lens for examining how images are contained, presented, and experienced. The chapter analyzes frames in three manifestations: the physical frames of screens, the nested frames within graphical user interfaces, and the relationship between primary and secondary screens that compete for attention. This chapter argues that frames are not passive containers but active agents that structure perception, mediate attention, and organize visual information. From Renaissance painting techniques to contemporary operating systems and video conferencing interfaces, the evolution of framing reflects broader shifts in attention economies and visual culture, establishing the frame as a fundamental organizing principle in our relationship with digital media.