Users Recounting Temporary Disconnection on Instagram

UID/CCI/04667/2016This article looks at the discourses of Instagram users about interrupting the use of social or digital media, through hashtags such as “socialmediadetox,” “offline,” or “disconnecttoreconnect.” We identified three predominant themes: posts announcing or recounting voluntary interruption, mostly as a positive experience associated to regaining control over time, social relationships, and their own well-being; others actively campaigning for this type of disconnection, attempting to convert others; and disconnection as a lifestyle choice, or marketing products by association with disconnection imaginary. These discourses reproduce other public discourses in asserting the self-regulation of the use of social media as a social norm, where social media users are responsible for their well-being and where interruption is conveyed as a valid way to achieve that end. They also reveal how digital disconnection and interruption is increasingly reintegrated on social media as lifestyle, in cynical and ironic ways, and commodified and co-opted by businesses, benefiting from—and ultimately contributing to—the continued economic success of the platform. As Hesselberth, Karppi, or Fish have argued in relation to other forms of disconnection, discourses about Instagram interruptions are thus not transformative but restorative of the informational capitalism social media are part of.publishersversionpublishe

Resistência aos media e desconexão digital na literatura ocidental

This paper contributes to the debate around digital disconnection by discussing resistance, a related and more established concept in media studies. A meta-analysis on the specialized literature highlighted two main trends: a media-centered perspective and a context-centered perspective. Our literature review suggests that these two main approaches are not linear and sequential, but rather cyclical and recursive. That is, they can be understood as waves of constraints. In its conclusion, the paper suggests that disconnection studies would benefit from moving away from an individualistic agency perspective in favor of a more context sensitive approach.Este artigo visa contribuir para o debate sobre a desconexão digital por meio do conceito de resistência, um construto relacionado e mais estabelecido nos estudos dos media e da comunicação. Para tal, realizámos uma meta-análise aos artigos científicos que abordam ambos os conceitos e destacamos duas tendências principais: uma perspetiva centrada nos media e uma outra centrada no contexto. A análise da literatura sugere que essas duas tendências principais não são lineares nem sequenciais, mas cíclicas e recursivas. Ou seja, essas tendências podem ser entendidas como relatos de ondas de constrangimentos. Em conclusão, o artigo sugere que os estudos sobre a desconexão se beneficiariam se se afastassem de uma perspetiva assente em uma agência individualista em favor de uma abordagem mais sensível ao contexto

Popular education and the digital citizen: a genealogical analysis

This paper historicises and problematises the concept of the digital citizen and how it is constructed in Sweden today. Specifically, it examines the role of popular education in such an entanglement. It makes use of a genealogical analysis to produce a critical ‘history of the present’ by mapping out the debates and controversies around the emergence of the digital citizen in the 1970s and 1980s, and following to its manifestations in contemporary debates. This article argues that free and voluntary adult education (popular education) is and has been fundamental in efforts to construe the digital citizen. A central argument of the paper is that popular education aiming for digital inclusion is not a 21st century phenomenon; it actually commenced in the 1970s. However, this digitisation of citizens has also changed focus dramatically since the 1970s. During the 1970s, computers and computerisation were described as disconcerting, and as requiring popular education in order to counter the risk of the technology “running wild”. In current discourses, digitalisation is constructed in a non-ideological and post-political way. These post-political tendencies of today can be referred to as a post-digital present where computers have become so ordinary, domesticized and ubiquitous in everyday life that they are thereby also beyond criticism. (DIPF/Orig.

“Maybe I should get rid of it for a while…”: Examining motivations and challenges for social media disconnection

This study explores the motivations for why people disconnect from social media and the challenges they experience in doing so. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with current and past social media users aged 21–39, the study finds that people discontinue, take breaks from, or change their use of social media for various reasons (e.g., lack of interest, overuse and overload, privacy concerns, social influences, keeping a work-life balance), but disconnection experiences vary greatly across individuals as well as within individuals over time. Notably, disconnection does not always follow negative experiences with social media, but can also be triggered by important life transitions or broader lifestyle choices. People also experience various practical, social, and societal challenges, making disconnection not always desirable or possible. Ultimately, this study gives insight into the factors that contribute to people’s complex and ambivalent relationship with social media. Thereby, it extends our understanding of the ever-evolving uses and perceptions of social media in a time where digital media is omnipresent

No Digital "Castles in the Air": Online Non-Participation and the Radical Left

This article presents results from a study of online presence in activist milieus associated with the radical left in Sweden discussed from a perspective of non-participation. With the aim to further the understanding of digital non-participation as communicative strategy in activism, it builds upon empirical findings and argues that the online practices and use of social media, as could be observed in milieus associated with the radical left, indicates active non-participation and that this, in turn, is related to the ambition to claim autonomy. The article draws from existing scholarship on critical perspectives on protest movements and social media as well as empirical examples of online content published by radical leftist groups. Furthermore, it analyses how these activities could be understood in terms of active and passive non-participation, abstention or adaptation to social media affordances, as well as implosion of the social in digital media. The findings suggest that much of the activities in the material could be described as active non-participation and that this media practice relates to ideological positioning and values in the milieu

Intensification, discovery and abandonment: unearthing global ecologies of dis/connection in pandemic times

This article explores how people have reconfigured their dis/connective repertoires during COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns. Relying on a media ecology approach and on 45 interviews carried out in different parts of the world, it tackles two limitations of the digital disconnection literature, namely social media reductionism and universalism, advancing a theoretical and empirical contribution. Firstly, it explores and unfolds dis/connective practices in relation to an intricate multiplicity of old and new practices, technologies, platforms and formats, foregrounding three key dynamics in the reconfiguration of dis/connective repertoires: intensification, (re)discovery and abandonment. Then, it critically drills down into the uneven power relations, divides and inequalities that traverse these three dynamics. This article demonstrates that dis/connective practices are carried out across variable configurations of devices, formats and platforms and shaped by privileges and imbalances that are particularly severe in the context of the Global South. In doing so, this article complexifies taken-for-granted assumptions regarding the meanings of dis/connection, establishing a dialogue with digital inequality and labour studies, hence unfolding new horizons of inquiry for digital disconnection studies

Komunikativne figuracije v času karantene

Karantena je kot spopad z epidemijo prinesla transformacijo prostorsko-časovne dimenzije vsakdanjega življenja. Porušila se je fizična in družbena diferenciacija prostorov v vsakdanjem življenju (delo, počitek, zabava, zasebno, javno, ospredje, ozadje ...). Obenem so bili ukinjeni običajni interakcijski rituali, ko je digitalno komuniciranje potisnilo ob stran telesni vidik družbenosti in utelešeno interakcijo med ljudmi. Življenje v karanteni se tako prevladujoče dogaja v sintetičnih situacijah. Avtorji analizirajo medijske prakse »komunikativne figuracije« skupine študentov – sošolcev, pri čemer se osredotočajo na spremembo komunikacijskih praks v obdobju najstrožnjih omejitev v času epidemije v kontekstu intenzivne mediatizacije. Ugotavljajo, da je permanentna raba medijev okrepila integracije tehnologije in praks občinstvenja v vsakdanje življenje, naturalizacijo digitalne družbenosti in fragmentacijo pozornosti. To je spletna predavanja na platformi Zoom spremenilo v eno od številnih enakovrednih medijskih praks. Predavanja so tako zaradi tesne integracije v siceršnjo medijsko pro-trošnjo izgubila svojo ritualno distinktivnost in lokacijo zunaj komodificirane digitalne kulture

Fünf Tage ohne Smartphone: Smartphonenutzung und subjektives Wohlbefinden: ein Vergleich zwischen normaler Nutzung und Verzicht

The study examined the association between smartphone use and subjective well-being by comparing regular use with a deprivation condition. Subjective well-being is defined by cognitive and affective components. Regular smartphone use is studied in various situations and for different functions. Data were collected in a prolonged qualitative quasi-experimental deprivation study (n = 11) using diaries (n = 210 diary entries) and follow-up interviews (n = 11). Participants kept diaries for 10 days: five days during normal smartphone use and five days during deprivation. Afterwards, we compared well-being during normal use and deprivation. Results show that using the smartphone for infotainment was clearly associated with pleasant emotions, while social interaction apps caused both negative and positive emotions. However, results from the deprivation part of the study indicate that in sum, satisfaction with social relations clearly worsened when not using a smartphone. Moreover, participants had difficulty managing daily life. Taken together, non-usage seems to cause isolation and low subjective well-being.Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Smartphone-Nutzung und subjektivem Wohlbefinden. In einer qualitativen, quasi-experimentellen Verzichtsstudie (n = 11) wurde das Wohlbefinden (erhoben durch kognitive und affektive Indikatoren) während regulärer Smartphone-Nutzung sowie während eines Smartphone-Verzichts gemessen und verglichen. Nutzungssituationen und Funktionen operationalisieren die Smartphone-Nutzung, in der Verzichtsphase wurde nach gewünschten Situationen und gewünschten Funktionen gefragt. Smartphone-Nutzende führten während fünf Tagen regulärer Nutzung und weiteren fünf Tagen Verzicht Tagebücher (n = 210) und wurden unmittelbar im Anschluss in qualitativen Interviews (n = 11) befragt. Die Ergebnisse aus der regulären Nutzungsphase zeigen, dass die Nutzung des Smartphones für Infotainment eindeutig mit angenehmen Emotionen verbunden war, während Apps zur sozialen Interaktion sowohl negative als auch positive Emotionen auslösten. In der Verzichtsphase hingegen verschlechterte sich die Zufriedenheit mit den sozialen Beziehungen insgesamt deutlich. Darüber hinaus hatten die Teilnehmenden Schwierigkeiten, dastägliche Leben zu bewältigen. Insgesamt führte die Nicht-Nutzung zu verstärkter Isolation und zu einem geringen subjektiven Wohlbefinden

Undoing Networks

How do we think beyond the dominant images and imaginaries of connectivity? Undoing Networks enables a different connectivity: "digital detox" is a luxury for stressed urbanites wishing to lead a mindful life. Self-help books advocate "digital minimalism" to recover authentic experiences of the offline. Artists envision a world without the internet. Activists mobilize against the expansion of the 5G network. If connectivity brought us virtual communities, information superhighways, and participatory culture, disconnection comes with privacy tools, Faraday shields, and figures of the shy. This book explores non-usage and the "right to disconnect" from work and from the excessive demands of digital capitalism