Disconnecting with social networking sites

Light, BA

Abstract

Ben Light puts forward an alternative way of thinking about how we engage with social networking sites, going beyond the emphasis upon connectivity that has been associated with research in the area to date. Analysing our engagements and disengagements social networking sites in public (in cafes and at bus stops), at work (at desks, photocopiers and whilst cleaning), in our personal lives (where we cull friends and gossip on backchannels) and as related to our health and wellbeing (where we restrict our updates), he emphasises the importance of disconnection instead of connection. The book produces a theory of disconnective practice. This theory requires our attention to geographies of disconnection that include relations with a site, within a site, between sites and between sites and a physical world. Attention to disconnectors, as human and non-human is required, and the modes by which disconnection can occur can then be revealed. Light argues that diversity in the exercise of power is key to understanding disconnective practice where social networking sites are concerned, and he suggests that the ethics of disconnection may also require interrogation.

Citation

Light, B. (2014). Disconnecting with social networking sites. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137022479

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 11, 2016
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9781137022479-(ebook);-9781137022462-(hardback);-9781349437870-(paperback)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137022479
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137022479
• Related Public URLs: http://www.palgrave.com/gb/
• Additional Information: Access Information : The book is free to download from the publisher's website