The politics of temporality: Autonomy, temporal spaces and resoluteness

Abstract

While many theorists and projects raise the notion of creating more 'free time', the implication that this will somehow be 'beneficial' is inadequate without a deeper understanding of how time is related to the individual and psychological well-being. This article offers some considerations for the raison d'etre of what can be termed a politics of time, taking as its trajectory the phenomenological understanding of time in Heidegger, and the view that restricted experiences of time in contemporary capitalist society fragment the phenomenological unity of individual temporalities. A politics of time is posed here as the necessary intervention to alleviate the subsequent inability to experience an authentic temporal orientation in such conditions. The article offers that any such temporal project must place such an understanding of temporality as its theoretical basis, and apodictically, the creation of 'temporal autonomous spaces' (TAS) as its political purpose.

Temporal digital control: Theorizing the use of digital technologies to provide a temporal autonomous space

“…When one does not have control over life through everyday pressures, constraints, disadvantage, incapacity, etc., when one uses their smartphone, they are engrossed because autonomous choice becomes reality in the form of digital temporal control. Time becomes one's own (Clancy, 2014). Digital temporal control exacerbates and perpetuates ongoing use of devices or smartphones.…”

“…Smartphone use in this autonomous space may provide a disconnection from others with whom they are beside. Smartphone use Clancy (2014) claimed that temporal authenticity is fundamentally essential and, in 'reality', it is a universal need, albeit, an individual's temporal perspective and authenticity within the present is 'inextricably connected to psychological well-being' (36). According to Heidegger, 'he [sic] who exists inauthentically is constantly losing time and never "has" any' (1980: 463).…”

“…First, I point out some seminal literature in the field related to waiting and its nexus with personal digital devices. I then introduce Clancy’s (2014) concept of temporal autonomous spaces and extend it, arguing for the case of digital temporal control, providing vignettes to illustrate digital device usage in spaces that seemingly seek autonomy. This discussion is followed by problematizing the concept of smartphone ‘over-use’ or addiction and (in)authenticity.…”

Internet addiction? Temporality and life online in the networked society

“…Rather than conceiving of time online as in competition with other daily practices, the users' responses speak to the value of temporal diversity and the contribution that having access to different experiences of time can make to wellbeing (Clancy, 2014). However, it is also crucial to acknowledge, as Southerton (2013) observes, that different practices demand different levels of temporal specificity and coordination.…”

The explosion of real time and the structural conditions of temporality in a society of control: durations and urgencies of academic research

“…Politically, this kind of approach can help to foreground a 'desynchronization' of the temporalities of diverse social, cultural and psychical spheres (Clancy, 2014;Rosa, 2013;Vostal, 2014). In B's account this might refer to a break between the temporalities of funded and unfunded research.…”