TY - JOUR

T1 - Discourses on Disconnectivity and the Right to Disconnect

AU - Hesselberth, Pepita

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Taking the “right to disconnect” discussion as a starting point, this article considers how the im/possibility of “opting out” is ruminated in scholarly discourses on technology non-use, media resistance, and media disruption. I argue that while very different in scope, these discourses converge in that they all revolve around a structuring paradox. On one hand, this paradox is set in place by the paradox of dis/connectivity itself (no disconnectivity without connectivity). On the other hand, I argue, it is incited and reinforced by the use of scholarly methods that appear to be at odds with the gesture of disconnectivity itself, whether they be empirical, discursive, or technical (or legislative). This article stakes a claim for the importance looking at these discourses on dis/connectivity from the point of view of this structuring paradox, for it is here, I argue, that the limits of our current “culture of connectivity” are most forcefully negotiated.

AB - Taking the “right to disconnect” discussion as a starting point, this article considers how the im/possibility of “opting out” is ruminated in scholarly discourses on technology non-use, media resistance, and media disruption. I argue that while very different in scope, these discourses converge in that they all revolve around a structuring paradox. On one hand, this paradox is set in place by the paradox of dis/connectivity itself (no disconnectivity without connectivity). On the other hand, I argue, it is incited and reinforced by the use of scholarly methods that appear to be at odds with the gesture of disconnectivity itself, whether they be empirical, discursive, or technical (or legislative). This article stakes a claim for the importance looking at these discourses on dis/connectivity from the point of view of this structuring paradox, for it is here, I argue, that the limits of our current “culture of connectivity” are most forcefully negotiated.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - disconnectivity

KW - connectivity

KW - digital labour

KW - digital detox

KW - right to disconnect

KW - withdrawal

KW - media resistance

KW - media refusal

KW - technology non-use

KW - media disruption

KW - media avoidance

KW - media pushback

KW - netactivism

KW - paradox

U2 - 10.1177/1461444817711449

DO - 10.1177/1461444817711449

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 30581360

VL - 20

SP - 1994

EP - 2010

JO - New Media & Society

JF - New Media & Society

SN - 1461-4448

IS - 5

ER -