Selfies - disconnection from ICTs

Thinking Allowed

BBC

Society & Culture, Science

4.4 • 997 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2018

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

'Selfies' - every day Facebook users upload 350million photos, Instagrammers share 95 million photos and there are 3 billion Snapchat snaps. A central element of visual sharing online involves 'selfies' -which often generate more comment than anything else. But why this fascination with images that can often be repetitive and unimaginative? Do they feed a culture of unhealthy narcissism, as critics assert, or are they a more complex cultural phenomenon? Also, Disconnected - why are some people turning their back on the use of any information communication technologies? Laurie Taylor talks to Mariann Hardy, Acting Director, Advanced Research in Computing at Durham University, about new research which uncovers the motives and lives of a global population which explicitly rejects our hyper connected world. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:29.7	What would life be like if you now disconnected from all your IT devices?
0:37.0	Find out.
0:39.0	Hello.
0:40.0	Ding, yes, yet another message. Only yesterday I learned from my phone screen that LinkedIn
0:47.0	had found someone else who wanted to connect with me. This time it was an American man
0:51.7	who enticingly described himself as delivering RIOs across digital platforms.
0:59.0	Oh dear. But why did I feel mildly guilty about not clicking except?
1:05.0	About not wanting to have anything to do with someone I'd never heard of,
1:09.0	you know I'd probably avoid like a plague in a saloon bar. And that wasn't all from LinkedIn this week. I also learned
1:16.2	from the screen that someone else I'd never heard of had actually validated my
1:21.0	broadcasting skills.
1:22.8	Gah, that really made me feel good.
1:25.6	And as if that wasn't quite enough online pleasure to be going on with, there was a shared
1:29.2	tweet from yet another unknown person telling me that she was going to be on the radio tomorrow.
1:34.4	Would I let everyone simply everyone know?
	...

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