Social Networks and Their Discontents
A conversation with Media Theorist Jacob Johanssen
People often say that social networks connect us with one another and thus create less alienation in society. But is that really the case?
Join Bonni Rambatan as he hosts a conversation with psychoanalytic media scholar Jacob Johanssen on the notion of “digital labor,” and how so many things in social media betray our discontents in a connected world where not we, but large corporations, own the vast majority of our data.
This week, we open with a quote from Jaron Lanier’s manifesto, You Are Not a Gadget, and get a bit theoretical as we explore the application of Marxist and psychoanalytic theories (especially alienation) into digital social networks. Other concepts mentioned include D.W. Winnicott’s transitional objects and Herbert Marcuse’s repressive tolerance. We talk about how social networks ask questions like an analyst would, and how they function as the Lacanian Big Other.
We talk about Jacob’s paper, co-written with Steffen Krüger, Alienation and Digital Labour: A Depth-Hermeneutic Inquiry into Online Commodification and the Unconscious. It also refers to an earlier work by Christian Fuchs, Digital Labour and Karl Marx. We also talk a bit about an anthology project we did together, Cyborg Subjects: Discourses on Digital Culture (cover pictured left).
UPDATE (3 Oct): As we are going live, the cyborgsubjects.org website seems to be down. We are trying to reach the webmaster and are hoping to get it back up as soon as possible.
We briefly mention “the Facebook killer,” which Mark Zuckerberg actually donated to. Facebook-holic Jacob mentions how Facebook is a great ideological machine that’s so embedded in our day-to-day relations, and Facebook-quitter Bonni mentions how Facebook’s comment section functions to its users much like the way ideology functions in society today.
This episode also features the song “Underneath Your Skin” by our very own CJ Camelia Jonathan, a song about the way technology reshapes humanity. She edits, mixes, scores, and does everything audio for the show. Oh, and here’s a little visual teaser for the song, featuring actor Dennis Adishwara:
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