Faster technology does not by itself change social practices or structures.

Evidence

What is decisive here is the fact that the tempo of the social implementation of new technologies, i.e., the spatial extension of alterations in practices and action orientations, is neither logically nor causally reducible to technological acceleration itself (leaving aside, naturally, infrastructural preconditions). Insofar as, for example, the sheer increase of processor speeds in computers is accompanied by neither a significant alteration of action orientations nor a shift in social patterns of association, it has an entirely neutral relationship to social change (not to deny that, empirically speaking, technical innovations often have changes in practices and/or patterns of relationship as consequences). — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 257

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges a crude technological determinism; complements claims from readings on how institutions and social structures mediate the adoption of new tools (e.g., Milgrom on trade institutions). — connects to: Faster transport and communication do not inherently cause more frequent use or time scarcity — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 234; Technical speed-up differs categorically from the acceleration of society proper — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 261; Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 226 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Technical speed-up differs categorically from the acceleration of society proper #corroborates (0.95) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 261
• Buying technology does not make a society technologically advanced #corroborates (0.85) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1628
• Technology’s cultural effects are mediated by late capitalism not deterministically #corroborates (0.85) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 410
• Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance #expands (0.80) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 226
• Technology usage alone fails to indicate real social power #corroborates (0.80) — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 85
• Meta-acceleration means social change itself accelerates, not just technology #expands (0.75) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 181
• Technology carries no inherent politics; usage determines its effects #corroborates (0.75)