Filling the Void : Emotion, Capitalism and Social Media /
Marcus Gilroy-Ware.
- xiii, 224 p. ; 20 cm
"A Repeater Books paperback original 2017"--Title page verso.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-208) and index.
Filling The Void is a book about how the cultures and psychology of social media use fit within a broader landscape of life under capitalism. It argues that social media use is often a psychological response to the need for pleasure and comfort that results from the stresses of life under postmodern capitalism, rather than being a driver of new behaviours as newer technologies are often said to be. Both the explosive growth of social media and the corresponding reconfiguration of the web from an information-based platform into an entertainment-based one are far more easily explained in terms of the subjective psychological experience of their users as capitalist subjects seeking 'depressive hedonia, ' the book argues. Filling the Void also interrogates the role of social media networks, designed for private commercial gain, as part of a de-facto public sphere. Both the decreasing subjective importance of factual media and the ways in which the content of the timeline are quietly manipulated--often using labour in the developing world and secret algorithms--have potentially serious implications for the capacity of social media users to query or challenge the seeming reality offered by the established hegemonic orde
9781910924945 (paperback) 1910924946 (paperback)
Social media--Economic aspects. Social media--Political aspects. Capitalism. Civilization--Political aspects. Consumption (Economics) Press and politics. Communication in politics. Medios de comunicación social--Aspectos económicos Medios de comunicación social --Aspectos políticos Comunicación en política Consumo (Economía) Civilización--Aspectos políticos