The financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a controversial decade that gave way to a dark era of war, terrorism, mass displacement, the resurgence of xenophobic white nationalism, ISIS, Brexit, Trumpism, and other issues that came to define a turbulent era. This research paper examines the economic contexts and theories of capital that contitute the difference in digital media research; The questions that digital media research must enquire to respond to a world in crisis; How did transformations in digital media technologies change the nature of the questions asked by media and cultural studies scholars, the theoretical frameworks, or the methodologies they used?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]