1st Edition

Interfacing Ourselves Living in the Digital Age

Edited By Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte Copyright 2019
    266 Pages
    by Routledge

    266 Pages
    by Routledge

    Interfacing Ourselves consists of new work that examines digital life on three levels: individuals and digital identity; relationships routinely intertwining digital and physical connections; and broader institutional and societal realities that define the context of living in the digital age. A key focus is what it means in varied social arenas when most individuals live as co-present or multi-present—simultaneously engaged in digital and physical space—alone and with others. Topics include how: digital life contributes to well-being; individuals experience digital dependency; a smartphone is more than a smartphone; netiquette reveals social change; some online communities become prosocial salient havens while others reinforce social inequality; Millennials build intimacy; Latinx do familismo; and digital surveillance and big data redefine consumerism, advocacy, and civic engagement. Six chapters incorporate insights from hourly journals of Millennials undergoing a period of digital abstinence. Other chapters draw from surveys, digital auto-ethnography, content analysis, and other methods to explore digital life at the level of individual and interactive experience, and at a broader institutional and societal level. Ultimately, the book presents the need for living a mindful digital life by developing greater awareness as an individual, a social being, and a netizen and citizen.

    Introduction: This is an Invitation [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    Section I. Digitizing Identity
    Section I Preface

    1. Offline as Misaligned: Millennials Coping with the Loss of Digital Presence [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    2. Digital Ink: Social Media and Tattoo Culture in Consideration of Gender [Deborah Louise Burns]

    3. Powering Down: Theoretical Lenses to Examine the Agency of Our Smartphones [Daniel Okamura]

    4. From Backstage to Digital Front Stage: Online Queer Community, Identity, and Emotion Management [Lacey M. Sloan]

    5. Digital Dependency Interrupted: Profiles of Withdrawal for Self-Described Internet Addicts [Grzegorz Hryniszak]

    Section II. Mediated Relationships
    Section II Preface

    6. How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Text the Ways: Interfacing Intimacy [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    7. La Familia in Digital Space and Face-to-Face: Millennial Latinx Navigating, and Reconfiguring Conceptions of Familismo [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte and Gunnar Valgeirsson]

    8. Is Unmediated More? When Physical Presence Does Not Equate to Digital Presence [Berge Apardian and Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    9. Interfacing Conflict: Advice Columns and Digital Life [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte, Gunnar Valgeirsson and Sasha Santhoff]

    Section III. Virtual Agency and Digital Dystopia
    Section III Preface

    10. Islands in the Stream: How Digital Music Piracy Became a Normal Activity [Daniel Okamura]

    11. Community or Catharsis? Online Activism, Digital Community, and Social Agency [Berge Apardian]

    12. Power and Money, Explaining the Rise of Digital Media through Surveillance Capitalism [Wai Kit Choi]

    13. Knowing You Better than You Know Yourself: Manufacturing Perceptions [Michael Nitzani]

    SECTION IV. CAPPING IT OFF
    Section IV Preface

    14. Why We Care: Netizenship and Informed Choice [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    15. Annotated Methodology: Investigative Process and Research Reflections [Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte]

    Biography

    Cristina Bodinger-deUriarte is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), where she was named "Woman of Distinction." She teaches popular culture, social psychology, and research methods, while serving as MA Program Director, Associate Chair, and Webmaster. Her background includes a Harvard PhD, educational program evaluation, government contract research, and business consultation. Her book, Hate Crime, won a Rising Star award.