“It's a compulsion…I try to limit it, like I delete it quite regularly so that I don't automatically…click it”
“I'm still just scrolling through these reels…I've just wasted all that time… you start to feel a bit like there's that tension”
“Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community …I find myself very reflected in the entertainment that I use today…you really feel validated…a sense of belongingness…whereas in the past you really feel isolated”
“The algorithm…knows the exact kind of genre that you're into…that's the community that I'm a part of… so I think it does help a bit more with identity”
Digital entertainment platforms, technologies and affordances, such as personalised playlists, video reels, internet pinboards, online gaming and media streaming, are an omnipresent force that shape the substance of our everyday lives. Their ubiquitous presence has the potential to significantly influence the wellbeing of individual users (Reinecke and Oliver, 2017).
This experimental workshop aims to build on current research from a large-scale empirical study, illustrated by the quotations, in order to co-develop alternative theoretical perspectives on digital entertainment platforms and technologies by exploring an inherent tension: their capacity to cause moments of rupture and repair (Vanden Abeele and Nguyen, 2024).
The workshop draws inspiration from Lefebvre’s (2004) Rhythmanalysis, specifically the concepts of arrhythmia (signalling a break or interruption in continuity) and eurhythmia (describing harmony and synchronization). The workshop asks: how effectively do rhythms of rupture and repair describe experiences with entertainment technologies in everyday life? And how do these rhythms of rupture and repair influence user wellbeing?
Underpinned by digital humanities methodology and using arts-based elicitation approaches (Markham and Pereira, 2019; Markham, 2020), participants will explore their own behaviours and rhythms relating to entertainment technologies and platforms in everyday life.
Participants will consider specific examples of mediated ruptures, such as practices of disconnection (Nassen et al., 2023) and the commercialisation of entertainment platforms that can result in privacy concerns, biases or overwhelm (Prey, 2018; Fleischer, 2015). Regarding mediated repairs, participants will consider the possibilities of entertainment technologies and platforms for cultivating intersectional community making and identity work. For example, through representation or solidarity relating to queer allyship and feminist or Latina/o/x affirmation (Tufan and Senyüz, 2023; Smet and Dhaenens, 2022; Soto-Vásquez, Olguta Vilceanu and Johnson, 2022). Finally, participants will reflect on their combined rhythms of rupture and repair in relation to personal wellbeing, and contemplate the social, emotional and psychological effects of their engagement with entertainment technologies and platforms e.g. mood management, dis/connection and life satisfaction.
The workshop will be of interest to AoIR delegates as it provides opportunities to: gain personal insights into the conference theme by considering individual behaviours and practices; get hands-on experience with multidisciplinary, innovative research methods and practice arts-based elicitation skills; grapple with broader internet contexts and theoretical frameworks. Furthermore, the data gathered (with consent) could lead to a reflection paper co-authored with workshop participants.
