About the project
'Intrusive media, ambivalent users, digital detox' (Digitox) addresses current concerns about digital media overuse. While many studies emphasise the positive and enabling potentials of digital media, this project analyses ambivalence, resistance and attempts at withdrawal and disconnection.
Digitox draws on interdisciplinary perspectives and insights from media studies, game studies and psychology to investigate causes, implications and reactions to intensified digital media involvement.
The project investigates the values and practices of digital detox, a concept describing temporary withdrawal from digital media or other means to restrict involvement.
Collaboration, activities and networking
In collaboration with international partners, Digitox established an academic network for disconnection studies.
We organised seminars, conferences, cross-national research, and conference panels. Furthermore, we had an active PhD network.
Digitox aimed to engage productively with public concerns and bring relevant knowledge to citizens, industry and society.
Seminars
Related projects
The project builds on a study funded by the Council for Applied Media Research (RAM) called “Når digitale medier invaderer livet” [“When digital media invades life”] for 2018-2019.
Digitox had a sister project in Portugal from 2021, initiated by Ana Jorge.
Financing
The Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO) 2019-2024
Duration
2019-2024, but network activites continue after 2024
Cooperation
- Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
- Kristiania University College
- Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen
Sub projects
Historical studies and discourse analysis (WP1)
- Historical perspectives on media resistance
Trine Syvertsen - Media addiction, historically and today
Faltin Karlsen - Discourses of digital detox and disconnection
Karin Fast, Gunn Enli, Faltin Karlsen, Hallvard Moe, Ole Jacob Madsen, Trine Syvertsen
Policy studies (WP1)
- Study of political reactions to and perspectives on digital disconnection
Karin Fast, Gunn Enli
Industry studies (WP2)
- Digital disconnection as work ideal and practice
Karin Fast - Hot desks in cool places: Coworking as post-digital industry and movement
Karin Fast, (André Jansson) - Design and use of digital detox apps: affordances and discourses
Faltin Karlsen - Actors in the media and tech industry: Dilemmas, challenges and responsibilities
Faltin Karlsen
User studies, digital detox activism (WP3)
- Disconnection dilemmas in the newborn period
Brita Ytre-Arne - Disconnection and media ambivalence in Norwegian mountain huts
Trine Syvertsen - Detox experiences: Studies of organised detox activities, camps, retreats
Faltin Karlsen, Trine Syvertsen , Karin Fast - Media ambivalence. Disconnection experiences.
Brita Ytre-Arne, Faltin Karlsen, Trine Syvertsen, Hallvard Moe
PhD projects
- Mehri Agai Digital Flux: The Process of Youth Disconnection in an Ambivalent Digital Modernity. Universitety of Bergen
- Kari Spjeldnæs Digital influence, digital platforms and disconnected presence, Kristiania University College/University of Bergen
- Yukun You Digital Disconnection through Apps, University of Oslo
- Victoria Kratel on disconnection and gender
Covid-19 studies
- Life in pandemic lockdown: Connection and disconnection in an extraordinary situation
Brita Ytre-Arne , Trine Syvertsen - News use in Norway during the corona pandemic
Brita Ytre-Arne , Hallvard Moe
Conferences
ECREA Preconference: Exploring the Dynamics of Digital Disconnection - Disruption, Inequalities, and Norms
The fourth preconference on digital disconnection takes place at ECREA in Ljubljana. The pre-conference explores the dynamics of digital disconnection, its potential as a form of disruption and the normative constraints that shape its boundaries.
Time and place: Sep. 23, 2024 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Ljubljana
About the preconference
The preconference is part of ECREA in Ljubljana. The preconference is open to all registered participants. You do not have to participate in ECREA to join the preconference.
The preconference is endorsed by the following ECREA sections:
- Audience and Reception Studies
- Communication History
- Digital Culture and Communication
- Media Industries and Cultural Production
Venue
Faculty of Social Sciences R20, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, University of Ljubljana
Local organiser Anamarija Šiša.
Organising teams:
- Victoria A. E. Kratel, Kristiania University College (main organiser)
- Team: Anamarija Šiša (local organiser, University of Ljubljana), Veysel Bozan (Cardiff University), Lise-Marie Nassen (KU Leuven), Torbjörn Rolandsson (Stockholm University), Yukun You (University of Oslo).
- Senior scholars: Trine Syvertsen (University of Oslo), Francesca Communello (Sapienza University of Rome), Francesca Ieracitano (Sapienza University of Rome), Karin Fast (Karlstad University), Ana Jorge (Lusófona University), Kathrin Karsay (University of Vienna), Anne Kaun (Södertörn University), Stine Lomborg (University of Copenhagen), Christian Schwarzenegger (University of Bremen), Emiliano Treré (Cardiff University), Mariek Vanden Abeele (Ghent University)
Organiser
digitox
ICA Preconference: Key themes in digital disconnection research: Authenticity, wellness, datafication and power
Disconnection studies has emerged as an umbrella term for investigating why and how citizens take breaks from digital communication. The preconference explores four critical themes in this emerging area: Authenticity, wellness, datafication and power.
Time and place: May 25, 2023 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Victoria University, Toronto, Canada
About the preconference
The preconference is part of the International Communication Association Annual Conference, May 2023 in Toronto. The preconference is open to all registered participants.
The preconference explores the topic of authenticity in disconnection studies, as authenticity emerges as both a negative and positive motive: Citizens log off to avoid inauthentic social media and hope to achieve a more authentic life by engaging in offline activities.
However, these motives are fraught with contradictions and ambivalence, to be explored at the preconference. In particular, the preconference addresses how these tensions around authenticity are situated in a broader context, promoting the discussion around the key topics of wellness, datafication and power.
Sponsors
The preconference is sponsored by the following ICA divisions and working groups:
- Intercultural communication division
- Mobile communication division
- Philosophy, theory, and critique division
- Activism, Communication and Social Justice Interest Group
Venue
Northrop Frye Hall, 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, ON M5S 1K7.
Rooms NF 113 and NF 119
Conference coordinators and email
- Victoria Andelsman and Christoffer Bagger are the main coordinators. Contact them here: disconnection@hum.ku.dk.
Organizers
- Trine Syvertsen, Professor, University of Oslo
- Gunn Enli, Professor, University of Oslo
- Tero Karppi, Associate Professor, University of Toronto (Local host)
- Anne Kaun, Professor, Södertörn University
- Ana Jorge, Associate Professor, Lusófona University
- Stine Lomborg, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
- Mariek Vanden Abeele, Associate Professor, Ghent University
- Victoria Andelsman, PhD candidate, University of Copenhagen
- Christoffer Bagger, PhD candidate, University of Copenhagen
- Sara Van Bruyssel, PhD candidate, Ghent University
- Tom De Leyn, postdoc, Ghent University
- Bert Verhulst, PhD candidate, Ghent University
Organiser
digitox
ICA Preconference: Digital Disconnection Studies Beyond Borders
Cross-disciplinary, cross-media and cross-national perspectives.
Time and place: May 26, 2022 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Paris, France
The preconference is part of the International Communication Association Annual Conference, Paris, France.
The preconference is open both to presenters and non-presenters and will include lunch and refreshments. You do not have to attend the main conference to participate in the preconference. A small conference fee will be collected at registration.
The preconference will be held on-site in Paris the day before the main conference. The preconference explores convergent and divergent perspectives on digital disconnection across disciplines, media, and national borders and invites participants to a dialogue concerning the challenges and promises of digital disconnection research.
OBJECTIVES
The conference has three main objectives:
- Expand scholarly discussions: how is digital disconnection understood and conceptualized within various contexts and across different levels of analysis? In what ways are conceptual underpinnings and understandings of the causes and implications of digital disconnection connected?
- Promote collaborative and comparative scholarship: What are the similarities and differences of approaches to digital disconnection across country, discipline, and media?
- Networking and career development: What are the emerging perspectives on digital disconnection provided by young scholars? How can new contributions deepen understandings of digital disconnection or expand existing knowledge?
The preconference is sponsored by the following ICA divisions: Activism, Communication and Social Justice Interest Group; Mobile Communication Interest Group.
ORGANIZERS
- Trine Syvertsen, Professor, University of Oslo.
- Anne Kaun, Professor, Södertörn University.
- Ana Jorge, Associate Professor, Lusófona University.
- Stine Lomborg, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen.
- Mariek Vanden Abeele, Associate Professor, Ghent University (Belgium)
- Mehri Agai, PhD Candidate, University of Bergen.
- Kari Spjeldnæs, PhD Candidate Kristiania University College.
Organiser
digitox
Advancing Digital Disconnection Research
ECREA Pre-conference, online, September 6, 2021.
Digital disconnection is a relatively new topic, but the number of studies is growing. This pre-conference sets out to assess and advance the field. Presenters are selected and a detailed programme will appear soon. The conference will run on CEST time (Brussels time, same as ECRA).
Time and place: Sep. 6, 2021 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Zoom - digital
The preconference will be held online in connection with the postponed ECREA conference. It will be open to all at no charge. Please contact trine.syvertsen@media.uio.no to register and obtain the link.
Key ideas
Over the past years, digital disconnection has emerged as a research topic attracting interest across media and communication studies. The idea of “digital disconnection” as well as related concepts such as non-use, abstention, resistance, avoidance and detox are discussed in a growing number of publications, with new research endeavours emerging in various subfields. However, questions are also raised about what disconnection really means and how we can study it, about paradoxes and inherent dilemmas that affect research on disconnection as well as the phenomenon itself. The time has come to critically consider the contributions, challenges and promises of digital disconnection research.
Confirmed speakers/papers include:
- The Manufacture of Disconnection. Alex Beattie.
- From Digital Disconnection to Post-Digital Territoriality. André Jansson, Paul C. Adams
- Media resistance throughout time. Rita Figueiras, Maria José Brites, Kim Schrøder.
- “I can’t live with or without you”. Renegotiating social practices and media ideologies: a focus on Italian and Israeli adolescents involved in a smartphone deprivation experience. Francesca leracitano, Hananel Rosenberg, Menahem Blondheim, Francesca Comunello, Chiara Modugno and Chen Sabag.
- Disconnect to Reconnect? Why and How Young Adults Disconnect from Social Media. Hao Nguyen
- Digital detox for whom; a qualitative study of Norwegian adolescents. Mehri Agai
- The logic of disconnective action in a time of pandemic: Covid-19 as a trigger for social categorization and “networked volatility". Gregory Asmolov and Pavel Lebedev
- Media Ecologies of Dis/Connection during the Covid-19 Emergency: Towards a North-South Conversation. Emiliano Treré.
- Imaginaries of Disconnection. Clara Wieghorst.
- Connectivity saturation and disconnection in uncertain times. Minna Saariketo and Seija Ridell.
- ‘Hey! I’m back after a 24h #DigitalDetox!’ Influencers posing disconnection. Ana Jorge and Marco Pedroni.
- Disconnection work: Digital reflexivity as post-digital labour. Karin Fast.
- Media non-users: Voluntary abandonment of social media networks. Karoliina Talvitie-Lamberg
- Conceptualizing Digital Wellbeing Interventions in a Dynamic Digital Wellbeing Model: Can Digital Wellbeing Interventions Cause a System Disrupt? Mariek Vanden Abeele
Organiser
Digitox: Intrusive media, ambivalent users and digital detox
Organizing team
- Trine Syvertsen, University of Oslo
- Maria José Brites, Lusófona University, CICANT
- Brita Ytre-Arne, University of Bergen
- Rita Figueiras, Catholic University of Portugal
- Stine Lomborg, Copenhagen University
- Kim Schrøder, Roskilde University
- Faltin Karlsen, Kristiania University College
Sections and sponsors
The pre-conference is supported by ECREA sections:
- Audience and Reception Studies
- Digital Culture and Communication
- Mediatization
The preconference is sponsored by the research project Digitox at the University of Oslo (funded by the Research Council of Norway) and Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies (CICANT) at the Lusófona University of Porto.