Vinyl won’t save us: reframing disconnection as engagement

Abstract

150)Disconnection has recently come to the forefront of public discussions as an antidote to an increasing saturation with digital technologies. Yet experiences with disconnection are often reduced to a form of disengagement that diminishes their political impact. Disconnective practices focused on health and well-being are easily appropriated by big tech corporations, defusing their transformative potential into the very dynamics of digital capitalism. In contrast, a long tradition of critical thought, from Joseph Weizenbaum to Jaron Lanier passing through hacktivism, demonstrates that engagement with digital technologies is instrumental to develop critique and resistance against the paradoxes of digital societies. Drawing from this tradition, this article proposes the concept of "Disconnection-through-Engagement" to illuminate situated practices that mobilize disconnection in order to improve critical engagement with digital technologies and platforms. Hybridity, anonymity, and hacking are examined as three forms of Disconnection-through-Engagement, and a call to decommodify disconnection and recast it as a source of collective critique to digital capitalism is put forward.

Advancing digital disconnection research: Introduction to the special issue

“…The discourse of digital disconnection as part of "the good life" points to experiences that resonate in contemporary culture as particularly meaningful and authentic, but also ripe for commodification and commercialization. Others have already pointed to the embedded challenges of associating disconnection positively with authenticity and nostalgia (e.g., Natale and Treré, 2020;Syvertsen and Enli, 2020). These tensions are further explored in two articles in this special issue, bringing new examples and conceptualizations to the table.…”

Creating opportunities for temporary disconnection: How tourism professionals provide alternatives to being permanently online

“…Yet, there is a sense of simplicity and ease described that has been lost in the everyday lives of many. One indicator for this is being available at all times, being up-to-date with regard to the news as well as personal updates from family and friends (Natale and Treré 2020) The alpine cabin manager we interviewed spoke directly to this notion: "Getting away from it all really isn't that easy, I have to say. When you're in the thick of it, it takes effort to pull yourself out of it [always being available].…”

“…Disconnection in this regard has found attention either as a form of a rather collective and political engagement with the imperatives of hyperconnected capitalist societies or as a rather personalized and individualized form of self-care directed toward personal well-being. Either form of disconnection has been subject to commodification in recent years, exploiting the collective appeal and deriving disconnection of its critical potential by transforming into a commodity and lifestyle choice (Kaun and Treré, 2020;Natale and Treré 2020).…”

Disconnection for protection (D4P): an addition to the disconnection repertoire

“…In general, Internet disconnections embody resistance, repression, and lifestyles (Kaun and Treré, 2018). It is present in the cycle of connection and reconnection (Lim, 2018) and materializes the agency that one exercises to resist the perpetual pressure to stay connected (Natale and Treré, 2020). There is no doubt that disconnection can be an act of repression as those in power cut off the Internet to maintain power and limit the agency of those without to fight back (Lim, 2020).…”