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Boredom and Interest on Facebook, Reddit, and 4Chan by Liam Mitchell

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Boredom and Interest on Facebook, Reddit, and 4Chan by Liam Mitchell A Phenomenological Study of Social Media: Boredom and Interest on Facebook, Reddit, and 4chan by Liam Mitchell BA, Thompson Rivers University, 2004 MA, York University, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Political Science Liam Mitchell, 2012 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee A Phenomenological Study of Social Media: Boredom and Interest on Facebook, Reddit, and 4chan by Liam Mitchell BA, Thompson Rivers University, 2004 MA, York University, 2005 Supervisory Committee Dr. Arthur Kroker (Department of Political Science) Supervisor Dr. Bradley Bryan (Department of Political Science) Departmental Member Dr. Peyman Vahabzadeh (Department of Sociology) Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Arthur Kroker (Department of Political Science) Supervisor Dr. Bradley Bryan (Department of Political Science) Departmental Member Dr. Peyman Vahabzadeh (Department of Sociology) Outside Member Optimists used to suggest that the anonymity of the internet allows people to interact without prejudices about race, sex, or age. Although some websites still foster anonymous communication, their popularity pales in comparison with sites like Facebook that foreground identifying characteristics. These social network sites claim to enrich their users’ lives by cultivating connections, but they sometimes have the opposite effect. Given the widespread and growing use of social media, my research poses the following questions: Does a particular form of (dis)engagement with the world flow from the reduction of the person to a profile? Does this (dis)engagement extend beyond social media, possibly into the way that we understand the world as such? What can we conclude about the broader theoretical framework in which an analysis of social media might be couched? I answer these questions through Martin Heidegger’s work, which provides the theoretical orientation for the dissertation as a whole. Noting that history informs the way that he understands ontology (Chapter One), I argue that the social changes that are accompanying the spread of the internet suggest modifications to his characterizations of boredom (Chapter Two) and technology (Chapter Three). I then turn to three emblematic social media sites – Facebook, which renders its users connected and identifiable (Chapter Four); Reddit, which gathers its users into a pseudonymous community of common interest (Chapter Five); and 4chan, which demands that its users engage in an anonymous fashion (Chapter Six) – and analyze them using the framework developed above while drawing from them to alter that framework further. I claim that although the patterns of use apparent on these sites differ, they all express different aspects of the mood that holds sway over the internet. Social media is both the cause of, and solution to, boredom, and it is shaping a generalized mood that is coming to seem ontological in its purchase. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract..............................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... iv List of Figures.................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgments............................................................................................................. vii Dedication........................................................................................................................viii Epigraph............................................................................................................................. ix Introduction: Causes of and Solutions to............................................................................ 1 Chapter One: A Virtual Boredom ..................................................................................... 10 1.1: Boredom................................................................................................................. 10 Etymology and Literature ......................................................................................... 11 The Rhetoric of Reflection ........................................................................................ 14 1.2: Ambiguities............................................................................................................ 21 The Essential Ambiguity of Philosophy .................................................................... 23 Ontological Historicity and the Clarity of Metaphysics ........................................... 29 The Ontotheological Character of the Lecture on Boredom .................................... 33 The Ambiguity of Attunement .................................................................................... 37 Chapter Two: Forms of Boredom..................................................................................... 44 2.1: The First Side of Passing the Time: Being Bored ................................................. 45 Driving Boredom Away ............................................................................................. 45 Staving Off Boredom (with an iPhone) ..................................................................... 49 Emptiness and Limbo ................................................................................................ 52 2.2: The Second Side of Passing the Time: Being Interested....................................... 57 Becoming Bored with a Dinner Party and with the Internet as a Whole ................. 60 The Possibility of Emptiness ..................................................................................... 66 The Temporality of Limbo ......................................................................................... 70 2.3: The Profound Boredom of Contemporary Dasein................................................. 80 2.4: Conclusion: A Virtual Boredom............................................................................ 92 Chapter Three: Technology/Ontology.............................................................................. 95 3.1: Questioning Technology........................................................................................ 97 Ancient and Modern Technology .............................................................................. 98 The Four Characterizations of Modern Technology .............................................. 102 Disposal; Boredom; Response ................................................................................ 108 3.2: Browsing Being ................................................................................................... 112 Ge-stell as All-Encompassing Imposition ............................................................... 112 Binary Logic ............................................................................................................ 117 Danger; Boredom; Response .................................................................................. 122 The Occultation and Recuperation of Poi ēsis......................................................... 128 3.3: Conclusion: The Ontological and Technological Aspects of Virtual Boredom .. 136 Chapter Four: A Life Lived on Automatic ..................................................................... 143 4.1: Social Missionaries.............................................................................................. 146 The Securities and Exchange Commission Filing Letter ........................................ 146 v Corporate Culture: Sean Parker ............................................................................ 149 Corporate Culture: Peter Thiel .............................................................................. 153 The Californian Ideology ........................................................................................ 156 4.2: The Instantaneous Archive .................................................................................. 164 News Feed ............................................................................................................... 164 Beacon and Connect ............................................................................................... 166 Timeline ................................................................................................................... 171 Archive Fever .......................................................................................................... 175 4.3: The Virtual Subject and the Digital Reserve ....................................................... 182 4.4: Conclusion: Augmenting Reality......................................................................... 186 Chapter 5: The Voice of the Internet .............................................................................. 192 5.1: Karma, Number, Speed........................................................................................ 193 5.2: Informational Cascades........................................................................................ 202 Marbles ..................................................................................................................
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