The anti-social network: Precarious life in online conversations of the socially withdrawn

Abstract

The anti-social network: Precarious life in online conversations of the socially withdrawn This article presents an analysis of life-political themes in online discussions about the hikikomori phenomenon, acute social withdrawal. In a Finnish online image-board, socially withdrawn individuals anonymously take part in conversations concerning, for example, welfare and the difficulties of working life.The aim of this study is to bring new perspectives to the discussion about anonymous online communication, and especially its relationship with social exclusion and anti-social behaviour. In the article, I examine how 'the anti-social' is produced and understood in this anonymously used forum. Through a thematically constructed textual analysis of online discussions, the following questions are answered: What kinds of life political themes are found in the discussion concerning social withdrawal? How is the feeling of being an outsider in one's own society voiced in this online community? What kind of space for public discussion does this specific forum provide? In the online space, an intimate public is formed around shared narratives and the conversations seem to offer at least a space of expressive politics and social criticism for the participants in a situation that is labelled by precariousness. This is the accepted manuscript of the article, which has been published in European Journal of Cultural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549418810075 2017). Instead of trolling, this article focuses on marginalization, and more specifically, on how the feeling of being an outsider in one's own society is voiced in this specific sub-cultural online community. Previous studies about online image-boards have often focused on collective identity formation in the forum (Firer-Blaess, 2016;Coleman, 2014) or the culture of anonymity (Auerbach, 2012;Manivannan, 2013). Here I take a new approach to the culture of image-boards and examine how 'the anti-social' is produced and understood in this anonymously used forum, by drawing on Lauren Berlant's (2011; 1-3, 33; 2007) theoretical insights about cruel optimism. Berlant's writing often deals with expectations of normalcy and the difficulties of non-normative ways of life. This article also contributes to recent discussions about precarisation (Jokinen, 2015; Berardi, 2015: 199-226), which is a term used to describe both the global increase in insecure forms of employment (Siegmann and Schiphorst, 2016) and the broader process, where society becomes more destabilised, insecure and discontinuous with the influence of global capitalism (Jokinen 2015, 88). In the end of the article, I reflect on the forum as a place for public debate.The aim of this study is to bring new perspectives to the discussion about anonymous online communication, and especially its relationship with social exclusion and anti-social behaviour. This helps us to understand how online forums connect with and produce understanding of life and social realities. Especially young people use image-boards to s...

Reaching hard-to-reach people through digital means – Citizens as initiators of co-creation in public services

“…In this paper, we take a view that the affordance value of social media for socially withdrawn youths resides in providing them with a social context where they can anonymously produce and reproduce "anti-social" behavior. This view aligns with emerging studies suggesting that online discussion forums offer socially withdrawn youth a safe space in which to voice their stories in any manner they deem appropriate (Vainikka, 2020).…”

Creating the Other in Online Interaction: Othering Online Discourse Theory

“…As I stated earlier, OOD is about sociality. In some online spaces, even the most incivil othering and adherence to hateful narratives conform to communal norms (Vainikka, 2018;Watt, Lea, & Spears, 2002, p. 73). For instance, incivil correspondence among online forum participants takes the form of a back-andforth banter in which commenters compete with each other to see who can create the cruelest way to describe the other (see, e.g., Jane, 2014, p. 560).…”

“…The commenter positions themselves outside the cultural norm, where a financially high status is believed to help in finding a companion. In this example, sense of community is built through shared experience of otherness and opposing the cultural master-narrative (see, e.g., Vainikka, 2018). This kind of inward and internal OOD may foster a communal experience of otherness and can work as a form of peer support.…”

“…In the Finnish media, Suomi24 is often referred to as an antisocial and cruel environment that hosts a community of online bullies (Vaahensalo, 2018). The same rhetoric is frequently used to describe other anonymous online environments such as the infamous imageboard 4chan or the content rating website Reddit (Arntfield, 2015;ElSherief, Kulkarni, Nguyen, Wang, & Belding, 2018;Miller, 2015;Vainikka, 2018). However, while othering behavior in online environments is often an unpleasant, hostile, and antisocial phenomenon, its power lies specifically in its sociality: "othering" discourses are produced in a public environment for the purpose of others seeing it and interacting with it.…”

Keskusteluryhmässä jaettavan vertaistiedon ja vertaistuen merkitys sosiaalisesti vetäytyneiden henkilöiden itsemurhakeskusteluissa

“…Suomessa sosiaalisesti vetäytyneiden nuorten olemassaolo on havaittu viime vuosina. Heihin kohdistunutta tutkimusta on tehty jossain määrin (Haasio 2015a;Zechner & Haasio 2016;Husu & Välimäki 2017;Vainikka & Harju 2019;Vainikka 2020) vaikka ilmiö on osattu nimetä heikosti. Sosiaalisen vetäytymisen ongelmat, jotka liittyvät hikikomori-ilmiöön, on usein liitetty laajemmin yhteiskunnalliseen syrjäytymiseen ja hikikomori-käsite ei ole vakiintunut kotimaiseen tieteelliseen keskusteluun.…”