Digitizing ephemeral moments converts nuanced experience into fixed categories that carry political weight
Evidence
Lifestreaming requires the digital instantiation of formerly ephemeral pieces of information. For instance, what Jim had for breakfast is ephemeral. There is no permanent record of his cornflakes. Few of us remember what we ate for breakfast last week, let alone years ago. But once Jim digitizes this information by tweeting about it, posting a picture of his cereal bowl, or carefully tracking his caloric intake, his breakfast is written into (digital) being. Similarly, defining a relationship as “it’s complicated” on Facebook categorizes and codifies what may be a complex interpersonal interaction. The act of classification is political and ideological. The social digitization encouraged by social media converts all sorts of nuanced interactions into cut-and-dried bits and bytes. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 546
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the political/ideological act of classification that social media digitization performs.
- XREF: Echoes Bowker and Star’s Sorting Things Out on classification as a political act, and the Facebook “it’s complicated” status as a canonical example. — connects to: Visual media presentation changes political persuasion outcomes.; The internet has an enduring-ephemeral temporality where images are both fleeting and eternal; Visual sign connotation connects images to ideology through cultural deep structures