Disappearance. Rethinking The Ethics of Care in the Age of Online Exposure

Abstract

This article proposes a philosophical reflection on cyberbullying among university students, understanding it not only as a social or psychological problem, but also as an expression of an ethical crisis in the digital age. Using a mixed-methods approach—exploratory and descriptive—applied to 1212 students (quantitative phase) and 20 students (qualitative phase) from CESMAG University (Colombia), the study identifies indicators of family, cultural, and behavioral vulnerability that are statistically significant, albeit modest, in association with online distress among young people. The findings are interpreted through the lens of alterity ( Lévinas , 2002), the ethics of care (Gilligan, 1982; Tronto, 1993), the critique of technology (Heidegger, 1994; Simondon , 2008), the logic of digital exposure (Han, 2012, 2014, 2017), and the socio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1987), which articulates the familial and institutional levels of the phenomenon. The text argues that the disappearance of the other's face and the virtualization of human relationships demand a reconstruction of the sense of responsibility and care as the foundations of an ethically sustainable digital coexistence.