Disconnection as distinction : A Bourdieusian study of where people withdraw from digital media

• Disconnecting from digital media is often mentioned in the public debate as a way of improving quality of life, productivity, sustainability, and so forth. However, not everyone can afford to disconnect, and media morality varies across social space. Based on data from a national Swedish survey (2019), this chapter applies correspondence analysis and a Bourdieusian theoretical framework to chart the extent to which different social groups prioritize disconnecting in different places, and the forms of digital unease associated with smartphone use. Such preferences are mapped onto a social space constructed around the distribution of economic and cultural capital in Swedish society, also illuminating how disconnection practices correspond to other lifestyle practices. The analysis reveals that the handling of digital (dis)connection (in different places) plays into overarching patterns of taste and cultural distinction. As such, disconnection manifests as an emerging moral-symbolic battleground in affluent societies.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

digital disconnection

place

distinction

media morality

smartphone

social space

Bourdieu

correspondence analysis

Media and Communication Studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)