#NM3205

[samteng3205]

10. Relationship-tracking and changing intimacy (Samantha Teng)

While exploring intimacy in the digital age, Lambert studied how intimacy is mediated by relationship-tracking technology. It is important to note that definitions and development of intimacy is heavily contextualised as different cultural meanings exist and influence others in varied ways. In this case, he associates intimacy with caring and close relationships that form part of our lived experience. Relationship-tracking apps and programmes have risen in popularity on the heels of the self-tracking phenomenon. Lambert coins the increasing technologisation of creating social relationships as the “technicity of intimacy”. Depending on how these technologies are utilised, different cultural techniques are evoked. In this article, Lambert argues that relationship-tracking as a product of the “technicity of intimacy” cannot fulfil their promise of alleviating the labour of intimacy.

Focusing on the app, PplKpr, Lambert studies how this relationship-tracker and its following can create discourses about the impacts of relationship-tracking. By ranking the people one interacts with through a variety of moods and physical inputs, the app manages one’s relationships and determines those worth keeping. The creation of such applications is based on our innate human obsession with self-improvement translated into our relationships. With its roots in psychotherapy, the app offers opportunities for the externalising of emotions in order to grow more fulfilling relationships. Since such technologies produce quick and convenient results, people seek such self-tracking devices for self-improvement.

Furthermore, relationship-trackers help to navigate “intensive intimacy”, where intimacy becomes work that is hard to manage and requires learning specific sets of social skills. In contemporary societies with the proliferation of media, traditional spheres of intimacy are being transformed by new idea and beliefs, creating more complex meanings. As such, relationship-trackers jump in with objective algorithms and options that help to automate that process.

However, there are limitations to how much relationship-trackers can measure in social relationships due to the mysteries of intimacy. Invoking the concept of intimate presence, it is largely performative and based on social norms. When the media intervenes to a greater extent, media users need to be alert in multiple areas of presence. In the measurement of solely social encounters, relationship-trackers fall outside of intimate presence. Moreover, these trackers cannot measure the excess in intimacy. Using sensors restricts the full extent of intimacy as it only targets singular events while ignoring any other intersections of meanings or psychological factors. Hence, this limited scope of function signals users to the excess of intimacy which these systems cannot measure. Despite its limitations, Lambert asserts there is value in the development of relationship-tracking technology due to the emotional gain that dedicated self-trackers can achieve in their journey towards their goals.

The case study that Lambert brought up was an interesting one as it involved the maintenance of existing relationships as a form of convenience and self-improvement. In contrast to dating apps which can be said to encourage inorganic methods of finding relationships, this app seeks to build on those one already has to take on the burden of discerning the worth of each relationship. This reminds me of various apps tracking which accounts unfollow or follow you on different social media platforms. These apps would provide graphs charting one’s follower growth or decline with suggestions on who to follow or unfollow. In the past, I remember downloading them for fun and curiosity. Though the app does not claim to manage one’s relationships, it does measure the followers on one’s social media accounts instead of having to individually scan through follower lists. This led to the change of my initial curious mindset to one that actively equated people’s worth to whether they unfollowed me or not. Looking back, I can understand how relationship-trackers do not capture the full image of social relationships as it only relies on statistics to inform one how to manage their social media accounts and in extension, their social lives. However, these numbers cannot understand why certain accounts followed or unfollowed you, leaving the excess of intimacy up for debate. Additionally, delegating control of relationships to an app such as PplKpr, which can automatically make changes to one's contact list, is an issue of agency in one's personal lives. With the intervention of such apps, intimacy is ultimately dictated by the app's own interpretations of the value of social relationships.

[alexandriatang]

Blogpost #10: Wearables and the Quantified Self (Alexandria Tang)

In this week’s reading, Crawford, Lingel and Karppi (2015) discusses about how the proliferation of wearable self-tracking devices have significantly affected the impressions one has about self-knowledge and self-improvement. This is because wearable self-tracking devices have the ability to track and quantify everyday movements and activities such as exercise and rest, mood and diet, and provide feedback to users so that they can better understand their bodies and give them the opportunity to tweak their activities and behaviour to reach the perceived optimal levels that supposedly lead to a better and healthy lifestyle. Such knowledge and between data and the body brought about by the wearable self-tracking devices have led to a new culture of personal data and how users perceive and understand their own bodies. Diving in deeper into the concepts of self-measurement and self-knowledge, Crawford, Lingel and Karppi (2015) discusses about the development and evolution of measuring devices from weighing scales in the past, to wearable media now. Lastly, Crawford, Lingel and Karppi (2015) analysed how advertisements of wearable self-tracking devices usually promotes the benefits of measuring and keeping track of yourself, which overall pushes and encourages society to be too consumed with data provided by such devices and be too over reliant on self-quantifications, to the point where it can get detrimental.

A point brought up by Crawford, Lingel and Karppi (2015) about how promoting self-measurement and tracking using wearable self-tracking devices can help one have a “better life” can actually have a lot of underlying issues, is what I would like to discuss in this blogpost. This is a relevant point of discussion for me, considering how I am an Apple watch user and can relate to how using this device for self-measurement and self-knowledge, can be rather detrimental to one, despite how the Apple watch was intended to encourage people to lead a more active and healthier lifestyle.

Using a wearable self-tracking device such as an Apple watch or a Fitbit encourages users to keep fit by providing incentives and goals for these users to chase after. For instance, with the Apple watch, users are encouraged to close their move ring, exercise ring and stand ring daily. Additionally, there are awards to win for clocking in work outs, monthly challenges as well as competitions amongst your friends who are also Apple watch users. While all these were meant to encourage and motivate people to keep active, these functions on the Apple watch can eventually lead to unhealthy competition amongst users who share their data with each other as they are able to see your daily activity (Figure 1 for an example of tracking the daily data of others). Unhealthy competition may exist when users who share data with each other simply try to take over each other in terms of statistics in order to beat each other and “feel good” about themselves that they are on top of the leader board. While it does keep people active, such unhealthy competition can be detrimental to one’s relationship, as well as mental well-being. Moreover, by being too consumed with the numbers and data, users may cheat just to attain the awards and goals in order to feel good about themselves, neglecting the initial intention they might have had. For instance, in order to close one’s move ring, one can simply walk around a room aimlessly to clock in some steps, when in actual fact this move ring is to encourage people to be active throughout the day by taking a walk or clocking in a workout. As such, such metrics that are meant to be a form of self-measurement and knowledge are now redundant as it causes people to lose sight of the initial goal and intention.  

Overall, I do not deny that using wearable self-tracking devices does help with self-knowledge and self-measurement where it helps a user understand their body and behaviour better through the data provided. However, it is important to not get too consumed and reliant on numbers to measure one’s progress and achievements. Additionally, it is important, as a user, to not lose sight of the original intention of using such wearable self-tracking devices.

[ashleywqh]

Social Media as Wearables? (Ashley Wong)

Crawford’s article examines wearable self-tracking devices and questions the usage of personal data. Wearables have recently gained an influx of supporters, and this popularity is in no small part due to their ability to supersede the human ability to process information about themselves – since they provide only ‘facts’ in terms of self-knowledge, wearables are seen as a more authoritative source of information about humans than humans themselves. This comes in tandem with the modern fetish for numerical accuracy and truth, as wearables embrace and support this fetish when providing their service of self-knowledge. As such, wearables have facilitated the ongoing commodification of the human body, where each person is condensed into their personal data. Crawford introduces a comparison between the weight scale and wearables today in order to analyse how big data has changed across human history. In particular, the main difference between the two is that wearables have allowed personal data to be accessed by external parties, therefore removing control from their user in terms of how and where their data spreads. The new age of technology and wearables has therefore assigned a new capital to data, although this capital is usually not controlled, sold, or bought by their owners themselves (us). This thus raises questions of human agency, as well as control over our own data and privacy.

Beyond these common questions, Crawford also discusses the use of wearables and their data in legal proceedings and data analytics. The same questions on human agency and fallibility are raised, but there is now a threat of data accuracy. Although data used in court may be solidly factual and therefore hard proof, the data’s origins now come into question as third-party companies who process the data before it reaches the court have their own human fallibilities and algorithmic issues, therefore compromising the data quality. To take the data for face value as hard proof would therefore raise questions of human injustice within the court itself, the foundation for promising to deliver justice.

In Singapore, many wearables have appeared over time, the most noteworthy being the TraceTogether token that appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one ‘wearable’ that appeared even before that may be our mobile devices. Although not commonly perceived as a “wearable” by the common definition, it appears that mobile devices do raise the same questions of agency and data protection as wearables. This is particularly due to the proliferation of social media that now allows users to film and post on a safe and anonymous platform. With this ability, many social issues have been brought to light on social media platforms. However, much of these have infringed on data privacy rights as films taken without consent or posts containing information on others are often the catalyst for bringing about social change. One particular example may be taxi drivers who now have cameras on their vehicles. This has allowed taxi drivers who suffer abuse at the hands of rude passengers to pursue justice, as this article (source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/video-of-passenger-scolding-taxi-driver-goes-viral) has shown. On the other hand, taxi drivers who are themselves rude have also been exposed, as videos of them can easily be taken and sent into the social media stratosphere (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrTkuKD5lHs). The common thread between the two is how data privacy can be infringed, as both cases made use of videos taken without consent to serve justice. These videos appear to state facts but could also have easily been doctored by freely available video editing apps. This inaccuracy is often not thought about when consuming these videos on social media, followed by petition signing or email writing to petition for social change. As such, data accuracy may be an important question for us to consider as part of our healthy epistemological practices for the data driven world of today.

[syafiqahrahsid]

Blog 10: Self-tracking and consequences (Nur Syafiqah)

In Lupton’s paper “The diverse domains of quantified selves: self-tracking modes and dataveillance”, she discusses about how self-tracking was an important practice of collecting data that led to knowledge creation. However, the issue of self-tracking comes when the practice of it is not voluntary and may be imposed on individuals. Self-tracking may happen through the means of customer loyalty programmes, applications or devices. Consumers are often not proficient enough in such self-tracking practices to resist against the practice of it.

I agree that self-tracking practices is essential in knowledge creation. Personally, one of the more salient examples of self-tracking which I engage in is my ovulation cycle, on the application Clue. The application allows me to track my menstruation days, my emotions, my period symptoms. With the data they have managed to gather, Clue has actually utilised users data to further educate them and also give more accurate predictions of their next period cycles and their PMS symptoms. Clue is also the first application to release a 'digital contraceptive' against pregnancy which claims to use statistics (collected from their users) to serve as a birth control tool.

Other than knowledge creation, Lupton also touches on the idea that self-tracking practices may be imposed onto people. This can be seen in workplaces and such imposition of self-tracking may expose an obvious line of hierarchy. For instance, organisations have been shifting communication in workplaces to applications such as ‘Slack’ instead of ‘Whatsapp’ simply due to its effectiveness of tracking the employees chats with others, their tasks as well as their schedule for the day. These self-tracking features makes it easier for leaders in corporations to track their employees and manage them better.

However, with greater ease of self-tracking, there may be consequences, such as seen in the workplace case study. For instance, employees now have less autonomy over their conversations with their colleagues as well as time for themselves. Supervisors are able to continually track their performance and activity. While this may sound like the ideal circumstances for those of the higher-ups, less autonomy to employees may potentially reduce overall efficiency due to the excessive red tape imposed onto them. Although red tape may be implicit, being monitored continually may make employees fear committing mistakes. On this note however, is it important to realise that that such practices of self-tracking have pre-existed even before the presence of digital technologies. Our self-tracking practices is not new as it emulates how people tracked themselves in the past, often through records of paper. It has however been made more efficient now with media technologies that has eased up the process.

[hioktong]

Self-tracking and wearable devices (Hiok Tong)

The article "Our metrics, ourselves: A hundred years of self-tracking from the weighing scale to the wrist wearable device" is written by Kate Crawford, Jessie Lingel and Tero Karppi and published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies. The article explores wearable technologies alongside its historical predecessor, the weighing scale. Precision in weight measurement travelled from doctors' offices to public squares and finally to the domestic home in intimate spaces like the bathroom, shifting the usage of the weighing scale from medical accuracy to fun, curious discovery and then to a private, personal knowledge of concern, measured against a standard of a 'normal' benchmark. The advent of self-tracking wearable devices enable users to track a variety of health or exercise- related information such as sleep quality, heart rate, number of steps taken and many others. However, it comes with its set of pitfalls both new and old (in relation to the traditional weighing machine). Wearable devices transmit a large about of information, cultivating social communities who use self-tracking devices. While weighing machines involve a uni-directional data exchange from the device to self, wearable devices involve an irreversible provision of personal information to both parent companies and third party data companies. The article questions the reliability of wearable devices on the accounts that different products or companies have different ways of defining and measuring a health construct, and that the standard definition of health does not take into account various bodily circumstances. According to Crawford et al, the advertising of old and new self-tracking devices have rarely changed, both highlighting the accuracy of measurement and its imperative to a better self. Given the unreliability of wearable devices and third party designed 'norms', Crawford et al argues that the use of wearable devices as legally valid evidence are risky. Additionally, the statistical aggregation of health data by device companies is crucial in the creation of a 'biopolitical public domain', said by Cohen (2015) to be designed to ‘assimilate individual data profiles within larger patterns and nudge individual choices and preferences in directions that align with those patterns’ (Cohen, p. 7).

Fundamentally, I believe that the main difference between wearable technology and the traditional weighing scale is the lack of agency that we have with our data, and how they might be used in various circumstances. This concept is conveniently concealed in today's ads about wearables— they are positioned as a 'therapeutic support' system, with the wearer in control. This offers the user a false sense of agency that they are the ones in charge of their lives and the device merely helps them aid them in living their best life. However, this agency is merely a facade when we think about the amount of personal information deflected back to the wearable tech companies.

Additionally, should the legal use of wearables data become a norm, new trends might emerge which can become increasingly intrusive, harboring upon the edge of the relationship between corporations and the private, intimate self. Crawford et al utilise the example of US health insurer Cigna in attempting to use wearable devices to bend the cost curve — this is an extremely applicable example of how companies can use wearables as incriminating, definitive data against individuals. In fact, as I was thinking about how such ideas might develop down the road, it is not difficult to imagine a world where: before signing up for insurance, individuals are mandated to login intimately personal health details from their wearable devices, from which the premium costs for insurance plans will be personalized and adjusted accordingly. While it may not be considered 'unfair' since insurance has always been managed against individuals' health risks, the thought of having that level of intricacy and intrusiveness in private data is quite absurd — not even accounting for the issue of unreliability in measurements that Crawford et al discuss.

While the article seems to imply that the idea of self-knowledge being prized is an ideology constructed by ads for weighing machines, wearable devices and others — the important of self awareness in body has been praised and preached about in many cultures. In religions including buddhism, a deep understanding and consciousness of the body and mind is imperative to achieving states of enlightenment. Surely then, the ideal that self-knowledge and awareness brings about a better human has already been ingrained in people, and wearable devices merely aid in being part of achieving that ideal.

Wearable devices, of course have its own advantages too. My parents are acutely aware of their approaching old age and are conscious in monitoring their health— taking more walks when they have not accumulated 'enough' steps in a day and monitoring their blood pressure carefully have become some amongst various good practices in their self-care. I cannot deny being happy about that. We are rarely mindful about our health, especially in a fast-paced society that values productivity, and wearable devices aid in building a generation that can translate that knowledge into greater care for our health.

Overall, this article was certainly illuminating in highlighting some of the implications of wearable technologies and how the messages behind self-knowledge and measurement in fact, has rarely changed throughout the years from the popularization of the weighing scale to the introduction of wearable technologies. Wearable technologies certainly have their pros and cons, and it is likely that the use of wearable tech as evidential information will continue to be contested in spite of its growing popularity.

[meganwkn]

Wearables of Weight (Wee Kai Ning Megan)

Inspired by the free time during the Circuit Breaker last year, my friend has since embarked on a fitness journey consisting of intense workouts. To keep track with her progress, she has purchased a Xiaomi “smart weighing scale” which looks like this:

The weighing scale also comes with an App which provides users with more in-depth detail about their bodies, such as body fat percentage and data based on their statistics. The marketing of this weighing machine and its wearable version in the form of an App had me thinking about Crawford’s reading about self-tracking.

In the reading, Crawford described the evolution of the weighing scale, from it being an initially male-marketed product used in public spaces to a private bathroom device that can help give ladies “a lovely figure”. With the increased awareness about female empowerment and a shifting focus on health over appearance, modern-day appliances are therefore marketed with fitness in mind, as seen in the advertisement above. Instead of portraying a woman with a coveted hourglass figure, advertisements now emphasise the importance of health and wellness to instigate women’s feelings of liberation and independence. This appears to be how the weighing scale continues to evolve according to the times, while essentially serving as a tool for self-knowledge and control over one’s body.

Nonetheless, the limitations discussed in Crawford’s reading is still similar to what my friend has mentioned about her weighing scale. Apparently, it lets users be aware of their data across a statistical range. For instance, the App told my friend she was fitter and weighed lighter than 95% of the population, although there is no evidence of how this data was collected and who exactly they consist of. Therefore, it was wise that my friend took such information with a pinch of salt instead of taking it seriously or even considering it as a compliment.

Having said that, I am concerned about the consequences it will bring to others who are highly weight-conscious or are trying to lose weight. A downside of wearables not covered extensively in Crawford’s reading was the harmful effects of women being pressured into a slim body (or, at present, a fit and “healthy” body). Being shown such data may be detrimental to one’s self-esteem when being compared to others. While others may have the weighing scale for purposes other than losing weight, such comparisons might negatively impact their body image and lead them to engage in an unnecessary weight loss regime. This would be ironic as the weighing scale, which was supposed to be a tool of taking control, ends up controlling and manipulating our actions instead.

In conclusion, I agree that data from self-tracking wearables should not be prioritised over our lived experiences in both the courtroom and everyday lives. While it is definitely possible for softwares and its programmers to calculate and present their data flawlessly, it is pointless if their collected data is flawed in the first place.

[gabegabe3205]

Blog Post 10: Data, data, data. (Gabriel Choo)

Kate Crawford’s article discusses the implications of wearable devices today by juxtaposing them with shared public weight scales of the past, particularly to explore how the evolution of such devices allows for the harvesting of information for entities to profit off. It also questions the loss of control of the individual users over the information shared, through the glorified advertisements of becoming one’s best self – inspiring collective usage for more data that feeds data-driven capitalist interests.

The first thing that comes to mind upon reading this article was the sudden realisation of the ubiquity of fitness-tracking devices. It seemed like there was an explosion of such devices in my household – from the government, from insurance companies, etc. Reading this article has revealed to me that these devices are not as innocuous as they seem.

The government supposedly is encouraging a healthier, fitter population, rolling the fitness trackers out with the National Steps Challenge where clocking thousands of steps a day can help you earn vouchers. Social engineering is not uncommon, and at times even necessary at the national level – but it becomes a potential intrusion of privacy when the collective information is tracked by the government. The government may say they are to improve future national health programmes, but we should not forget the controversy over the conviction of a murderer through the use of TraceTogether when the government first vowed that data from it would not be used for any other purposes other than COVID containment.

The government also collaborated with FitBit to give out free fitness trackers that, unlike the no-brand ones provided by the government, had all the frills. However, there was a caveat – you are only eligible if you sign up for FitBit Premium which brings ‘personal insights to help you make smarter choices about your health’. FitBit needs the data, as Crawford mentioned, or data-points with which their algorithms are able to subtly guide individual choices. Free FitBit trackers do not sound as appealing when you will be handing over your personal health information over with no clue over where the information goes, how it will be used, and whether it will ever go away.

Finally, insurance companies are giving out such devices too, not because they are aligned with the government’s aim for a healthier population, but because it affects risk, premiums, and pay-offs. In short, the bottom line is their concern. This discrimination against people who are perceived to lead ‘less healthy’ lifestyles might not always be accurate – these devices are not fool-proof, and they have their fair share of glitches and ambiguity surrounding the accuracy of its information.

In short, I do agree with Crawford’s main point about our increasing vulnerability to a growing trend of data-driven interests, whether by the government or private organisations. Without reliability, transparency, and knowledge of the value of our data, maybe we should not be too eager to jump on the next wearable bandwagon.

[joeywxy]

The Quantified Self (Joey Ang)

In Our metrics, ourselves, Crawford, Lingel and Karppi addresses the prevalence of self-quantification in today’s age of measurement. Bringing readers through the different stages of self-measurement from the doctor’s to public to domestic scale, the weighing scale possesses a distinctive social and cultural meaning today. In Schwartz words, “from what this person weighs to what you should weigh and what you could be”. The weighing scale has inadvertently normalized the “ideal” weight and attached one’s value and self-worth to one’s weight.

More recently, the rise of wearables offers a wider array of data, including physical activity, sleep quality, caloric burn and heart rate. Self-quantification as a convenient way to gain self-knowledge to control one’s lifestyle and body persists. Just like weighing scales, self-trackers normalise the conformity to health ideals as data output of self-trackers are regarded as more objective and reliable than the subjective human account.

However, self-tracking device is different from the weighing scale in two different ways. Firstly, the self-tracking device is less accurate. Secondly, information provided by the weighing scale is unidirectional unlike the tracking device which channels data to and from consumers, companies and other devices, introducing problems with the infringement of privacy and surveillance.

It seems that the writers may be too pessimistic. In general, self-trackers come with many physical, mental and social health benefits. One such example is Dan Hon, who has type 2 diabetes (Hon, 2012). After using the Nike Fuelband and the Fitbit to monitor his physical activity levels, his blood sugar levels reduced to normal. Another user managed to solve his sleep problems using a Zeo headband to track his sleep patterns while experimenting with giving up caffeine and changing the lighting in his room to see which of these factors affected his sleep. These suggests that the precision of self-tracking devices may not be much of a concern as long as they can help improve our overall well-being. Patients can also enter their data on websites such as PatientsLikeMe and CureTogether for mass evaluation of the data to provide users a better understanding of what treatments are effective.

Research has shown that participants who wore self-trackers over a period of time showed an increase in physical health, and psychological well-being. One possible explanation is that greater health consciousness increases one’s motivation towards self-improvement, leading to healthier eating habits and more exercise. In addition, as the writers have acknowledged, Quantified Self social groups can serve as a source of motivation to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. QS groups in Singapore tend to join programmes and competitions such as “The Step-up Challenge” together. Having a strong social support is also linked to lower risk of depression and other mental illness.

However, self-tracking devices are not without problems. It has been argued that intense self-tracking may cause ‘cyberchondria’. This refers to the disproportionate and intense anxiety about their health state based on the data users collect. This could eventually lead to an obsessive cycle of tracking and altering one’s behaviour in order to achieve the “ideal” blood pressure, heart rate, weight, muscle mass etc. Such destructive behavioural patterns can include chronic dieting and exercising among others. Besides, users may start to lose interest in previously pleasurable activities. This seems to be what happened to Craig Mod who cannot help but construe walking as number of steps to be counted even during his trip to Paris (Mod, 2012).

Another problem is that the perceived health benefits of tracking can mislead users into thinking that self-trackers can substitute check-ups and professional medical services. It also gives the individual an agency for self-diagnosis which is potentially dangerous, especially if the machines are inaccurate. For instance, based on a high blood pressure measurement on the tracker, the user may diagnose himself with hypertension and start taking unprescribed medications.

Self-tracking can also give rise to social quantification. Not only can data be used for targeted advertising, but also sold to hiring companies or insurance companies. Eventually, users’ personal data can be used as criteria to decide if one should be hired, promoted or granted insurance premiums. Possession of big data makes wearable companies more powerful. Such unequal power distribution between companies and users makes users increasingly vulnerable to unethical practices by wearable companies.

In conclusion, the writers have raised insightful questions about the quantified self and harmful implications of self-tracking devices on users. However, this perspective may be exaggerated as numerous health benefits continue to be associated with self-trackers as long as they are used in moderation. Until we can find a better alternative to attaining personalised information that be used to can effectively enhance our lives, self-trackers are here to stay.

[pecanqistina]

NM3205 Blogpost #9: Digital Intimacy

In the article “Tinder and humanitarian hook ups: the erotics of social media racism” by Corinne Mason investigates the problematic nature of Tinder and the particular group of individuals that fall under the term Humanitarians of Tinder. This specific group of Tinder users, are infamous for their circulation of images or selfies that feature volunteering work or humanitarian content, mostly of radicalised children who are person of colour or from a ‘third world country’. This article takes on a theoretical approach about why such practice has been embedded within the digital world, more specifically dating apps like Tinder or OK Cupid.

In the American context in this advanced technological era, users of Tinder are able to curate their own idealised identity on the computer mediate platforms such as dating apps. Users of such applications have various intentions but Tinder, clearly, offers digitalised platform for people to meet new people, perhaps, for the purpose of hooking up. Users make intentional choices when laying out their selfies – for the consumption and gaze of other users. Humanitarians of Tinder are those users who craft their profile cleverly to appear humble and selfless, socially aware of the humanitarian problems and crisis (globally).

The ‘white saviour trope’ becomes a strategic methods to appear attractive in the eyes of those swiping on Tinder, and potentially, gain suitors who view them as someone who is ‘different’ and ‘socially aware’. The analysis of the Tinder Humanitarian and the attraction towards such racially and classist desires were discussed in more detail throughout the article. But one key point that I can resonate strongly with is the concept of whiteness and desire to do good. Mason addressed very valid points about how white people “steal the pain of others” for their own personal benefits. It let me to question the superficiality of their humanitarian work in the first place. These deeply racialised practice have been so normalised, not just in American context but specifically of those who have the privilege of acting on these humanitarian work and take selfies to be shared to the many users on Tinder, just to appear good and desirable. This definitely implies that desirability can be determined by one’s goodness and how their goodness separates themselves from the rest who are unlike them. This perpetuation of this practice demonstrates the normalisation of desirability being raced and classed, which indeed, can be extensively problematic in the digital world.

[vanessateo3205]

Calibrated Amateurism: The Influencer’s Secret To Fame

Abiden explains the concept of calibrated amateurism in a way that I have never considered about before. He analyses the social media behaviours of influencers and categorises them into two types of content: anchor content and filler content. The anchor content is the heavily curated, edited and produced content that they are primarily famous for, showcasing their talents in the arts, uploaded every once and then. Yet, these influencers are able to sustain their audience’s interest and attention with the ‘filler content’ in which they share seemingly unfiltered, unedited, raw snippets of their authentic lifestyles. This is especially apparent in the case of family influencers whose content are meticulously planned to oscillate between high quality and high production value of anchor content, as well as filler contents of impromptu filmed footage that craft a natural, appealing image that is allows audiences to feel that the influencer is a relatable, authentic figure. She supports this with studies of family influencers who have gained the admiration of their audiences, earning love, support and even envy of audiences who wish to emulate the family, whose family dynamics they deem as idyllic, simply through the documentations of their lives through content on social media platforms. Moreover, Abiden discusses the issue of the exploitation of children in influencer families as free digital labour, by exploring the families’ justifications that their children are not subject to free digital labour. Through exploring these aspects of how family influencers juggle between media content, their online personas and their authentic selves, Abiden explores the extent of which social media platforms depend heavily on the attention economy sustained by audience power. Firstly, I do agree with Abiden that influencers use their filter content to sustain engagement with the audience through presented a more informal, unfiltered image of themselves in between every anchor content they produce. This is what Abiden terms as calibrated amateurism, a ‘practice and aesthetic in which actors in an attention economy labor specially over crafted contrived authenticity that portrays the raw aesthetic of an amateur’ (Abiden, 2017). In these filler videos, there are notably lesser layers of editing that takes place (as compared to the more refined, carefully produced anchor content), but also intended and staged un-cut scenes included in the final product that mirrors an editing style of an amateur. This is, more often than not, intended by the influencers to brand themselves as a more human and thus relatable version of themselves to their audiences. Similarly, I have been unconsciously favouring a Youtuber, Edward Avila, mainly because of how genuine and unfiltered he always seems in his video. He is a beauty youtuber and vlogger who shares on youtube both beauty product reviews and informal vlogs of his life. He has a unique style of editing, such that his ‘filter content’ is always part of his ‘anchor content’. Take for example, in almost every formal makeup review video (his anchor content), he would intentionally leave in bloopers and awkward moments in conversations, even zooming in onto comedic facial expressions to over-emphasize the comedic factor in his videos. Take for example this moment in a recent video, where he was doing a formal demonstration for a makeup brand he was endorsing, but chose to leave in a clip of the makeup products falling over dramatically. This invited expected amusement from the audience, where the comment section was filled with comments about the situation, turning it into a further discussion point and receiving more likes, comments, and attention from his audience. Additionally, he would also film videos where he would just be casually talking to his audience, even promoting beauty products while emphasizing that he was not receiving their sponsorship, while zooming in on humorous facial expressions of disdain or amusement. This is Edward’s unique style of content creation, creating pockets of comedic moments for audiences to have a glimpse of an ‘authentic persona’ to engage their attention. 

While I believe that Abiden’s research on family influencers have justified that there was no exploitation of children as free digital labour as there was consent and enjoyment in the process of content creation, I believe the concept of allowing children to be content creators is fundamentally problematic. Firstly, children who have been influenced by their families to become influencers may not have had a concept about what being an influencer entails at a tender young age. They can be easily manipulated by their parents to pursue this line of work simply because it is what they were exposed to growing up, rather than purely their own agency and desire. One such example is the youtuber, known as Venus Angelic. At a young age of 12 in 2010, her mom created and managed her youtube channel, where she went viral for her ‘How to Look Like a Doll’ video, making makeup tutorials where she intentionally made her voice sound more child-like to complement her doll-like image. However, in 2014, after being separated from her mother after family issues, her content on youtube suddenly changed drastically, she dropped the doll-like concept she had gone viral for, much to the confusion and surprise of her audience who adored her for her doll image. The anger her audience felt upon realising that the doll image of Venus was not her true identity earned a lot of criticism from the audience. This prompted Venus to reveal that she was forced by her mother to cosplay as a doll for content, as well as the physical and emotional abuse she received from her mother as she was forced against her will to follow her mother’s wishes as her mother had full control over both her social media content and her living circumstances, leaving her unable to detach herself from exploitation and abuse. This drives home the point that there will always be a concern that children are easily exploited by their parents as digital free labour against their will, and yet their family circumstance does not allow them to extricate themselves from the situation. The fact that likes, comments, views and subscription count are the currency of the attention economy may lead to influencers and content creators who are motivated more by the money and audience attention than the wellbeing of their children.

Reference: Abidin, C. (2017). # familygoals: Family influencers, calibrated amateurism, and justifying young digital labor. Social Media+ Society, 3(2), 2056305117707191.

[samteng3205]

1. The Mediated Construction of Reality (Samantha Teng)

As established by Couldry and Hepp (2017), we must understand “the social world as fundamentally interwoven with media”. When we consider the role of the media in our lives, the context of the digital age must be taken into account.

When we consider the role of the media in our lives, the context of the digital age must be taken into account. Through the proliferation of media, mediated communication practices are highly prevalent and have set the norm of interaction between parties. As communication becomes increasingly entwined with technology, technology has adapted likewise to include more features imitating in-person communication. These advances contribute to the social construction of reality.

Unlike the idea of social constructivism by Berger and Luckmann (1966) depicting social reality as what individuals perceive to be real and practices taken for granted, Couldry and Hepp deferred from such. Individuals play a main role in the construction of their own reality, embedded in daily processes and historical changes. By institutionalisation and materialisation, we develop our reality through these systemic mechanisms. As such, the mediatisation of reality has occurred. Considered to be a form of intersection between the differentiated domains of our social world, the media emphasises and sustains human communication. To reconcile the intersubjective nature of our social reality, the media has facilitated communication across time and space, creating a shared understanding and prompting reflection and action.

In my opinion, I resonate strongly with the notion of differentiated yet interlinked social spheres, where the media provides an outlet to cross the blurred barriers between them. This highly correlates with the communities and culture that Tumblr has created. The features of Tumblr reveal the inherently social nature of humans in the established anonymity of users. Uninhibited by social norms and pressures with identity, users interact freely and enthusiastically with each other, crossing into different social domains. Tumblr promotes diversity and the creation of a range of niche communities to fit any individual’s interests. Using its tagging and replies features, the social media platform provides a convenient method to communicate with others regardless of distance or time differences. The difference between Tumblr and other social media platforms can be attributed to its unique culture that has stood the test of time. Hence, it facilitates the shared understanding of its users who use the media.

An example of the tags and topics that can be displayed on the platform. 

Being a patron of the website for many years, I can testify to the mediated quality of Tumblr as a website and communication channel. I am confident to say that my usage of Tumblr has contributed to the development of my character and values. This reflects the individual construction of my own reality through the medium of media. Therefore, Tumblr is a n apt example for the mediatisation of our social realities.

[alexandriatang]

Blogpost #1: Mediatization (Alexandria Tang)

In this week’s reading of the Social World as Communicative Construction, Couldry and Hepp mentioned that the social world is constructed through communication. These communicative practices have been moulded by long-term processes of institutionalization and materialization, otherwise known as media.  As such, since communicative practices are inherently social, our everyday reality is deeply interwoven with media, and thus being ‘mediatized’. In this reading, it was also pointed out that the world is experiencing an increasing mediation of our communicative streams. There has been a shift from direct communication to mediated communication as the common and normal means of sustaining social relations. As such, with media, face to face communication is no longer the only channel for social interactions to take place. Overall, with mediatization and the increasing reliance on media, the social world that we live in is now constantly being shaped and constructed by media.

The way Couldry and Hepp explained how media and communication construct the social world that we live in made me reflect about my everyday life and how much media has shaped the reality that we currently live in. It is indeed true that our lives now revolve around media and that we heavily rely on media. This is especially evident in the past year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and many countries had to go into lockdown, rendering social activities not physically possible. As such, our social activities and interactions have all been shifted online and we have all adapted quickly to this shift.

For instance, due to travel restrictions, we no longer can visit friends and family who are overseas, or even visit friends and family who are in Singapore as well due to the circuit breaker measures. As such, we rely a lot on Facetime, Skype and Zoom, to maintain relationships and keep in contact with our loved ones. Besides restricting interaction amongst people, this pandemic has also put a stop to many large-scale events such as concerts and sporting events. However, utilising media, we have been able to still bring these experiences to people online. For instance, during the lockdown in the world as well as circuit breaker in Singapore, many music artists held livestreams of concerts to still bring people the experience of attending music concerts, albeit online. Additionally, these livestream concerts held on online platforms such as Facebook and YouTube are usually accompanied with a live chat box, allowing participants who are online to interact and chat with each other. A more relevant example to me of how media has constructed the social world would be the live-streaming of Inter-Hall Games (IHG) matches in NUS. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, spectators are not allowed to physically go down to watch and support their halls in the various matches. However, with media, we do not miss out on catching the matches as each hall will livestream the match via Instagram as well as provide real-time updates on Telegram channels. Additionally, supporter who tune into the livestream can interact with each other through the live chat.

Hence, I resonate with Couldry and Hepp’s idea of how the social world is constructed and deeply interwoven with media, leading to mediatization. 

[jzooey]

Blog Post 3: Mobile Media (Joey Wong)

This week’s reading, “Portable Objects in Three Global Cities: The Personalization of Urban Places”, is about a study conducted in 3 global cities — Tokyo, Los Angeles and London. They aim to understand the ways in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) “shape our experience or urban space and time”.  In the study, the authors aim to study how portable devices constructs and support people’s identities and activities and even mediating relationships with people, places and institutions.

Unlike their previous researches, they aimed to shift their focus from private and interpersonal communication towards a more public and impersonal kinds of social exchanges. Through this study, they found that there were mainly 3 genres of presence that were common throughout the 3 cities despite their substantial differences in urban contexts — Cocoons, Encampments and Footprints.

These terms seemed foreign at first but as I read on, I realised that I know very well what these terms are. The authors explained Cocooning to be a private territory created by individuals within the confines of urban space. Cocooning help shelters the individuals from engagement. An example of cocooning would be reading a ebook or listening to iPod on the train. It functions as a way for people to “fill” or “kill” time.

Encampment is where people put down roots at places that they feel some affinity. Rather than “killing time”, people schedule and spend time at the location of encampment. An example would be the participants bringing their laptop to a certain cafe that they frequent, because of various reasons.

Lastly, Footprints are when places give out loyalty cards or rewards cards to track the customers’ orders and loyalty. The participants had different responses to these cards. Some find it intruding that the companies are collecting their data, while others are diligently trying to collect rewards.When foot printing is mentioned, privacy is involved.

I agree to a large extent when the authors said more and more of our articulation of personal and social relations to urban space is being delegated to different technologically embodied infrastructures, accessed with portable technologies of various kinds. While camping at the same starbucks everyday to study for my A Levels, the barista recognise me and my order. I managed to have social relations in a place that I set my roots in. At the same time, I used my starbucks card to collect “stars” that help me to collect a free drink/food everytime i reach 60 stars, where 1 star=$1 spent. 

Accessed with my phone and starbucks card, I can easily track the amount of stars spent. Organisations like starbucks and Grab motivate you to spend more at their organisation to retain your “membership”. Every 300 stars accumulated, you’d be crown a Gold member, where you get to access exclusive offers. However, to retain the Gold membership, you’d have to accumulate another 300 stars before the expiry date of the previous stars. This is one example of how I would cocoon myself in a place of encampment, all while footprinting with my Starbucks rewards card. These further emphasises the 3 genres of presence that were mentioned in the reading, which I strongly agree for.  It is ironic to me how I camp at Starbucks to cocoon myself to escape the real life, yet I am leaving more of me whenever I use my Starbucks reward card. I resonate with most the participants because even as a student, I like to cocoon myself with my airpods, camp at a cafe where i can focus and use many reward cards to earn more discount. A question that I thought of while reading was, was it truly worth it to sell my data for the extra 10% the membership card can bring me? For now, I think that while it might be creepy, it is definitely convenient and accurate to some extent. As much as privacy has been breached and some may feel intruded, I think that it is ultimately part and parcel of the digital age we live in. In order to get some discount, we have to give some pieces of our information. 

[yeoyokepeng3205]

Blog 2 (Yeo Yoke Peng)

In Singapore, smartphone penetration rate has been increasing rapidly as seeing how is nearly 82% of the population owns a smartphone in 2020 compared to 10 years ago, only 55% of the population owned a phone. The mobility of entertainment through various communication devices like the iPad, iPods, Laptops or Phones promises news forms of privatised mobility (Spigel). Feeling bored ? You can check out Netflix on your phone. Finding something to play? You can access more than a million games available on your Ipad to try. Feeling stress and a burning desire for relaxation? You can easily connect your earphones to your laptop to blast some music. The convenience of having all these forms of entertainment and communication has within one's reach has definitely brought about great myriad of benefits. However, certain scholars have postulated that these tiny devices could foreshadow the downfall of humanity because they unconsciously promote alienation and in extreme situations, the demise of certain individuals who were self absorbed that they are unable to differentiate virtual and reality( Atardi, 2020). In Korea, a baby starved to death because her parents rather care for their virtual baby than their own, or a 22 year old Korean man who murdered his mother for nagging at him for spending too much time playing games. After  he killed her, he went to a nearby Internet cafe in the city of Taegu and continued playing games. The atrocities that these specific individuals committed instigated debates on whether we should take a step back in engaging with these devices and rethink

Personally, although mobile communication. can be seen as a dual edged sword, I still believe that the benefits outweigh the consequences. In 2019, when I volunteered abroad in Chiang Mai to teach English and build houses, language barrier was an issue that I struggled with. I felt handicapped and verbally impaired by my inability to interact freely and bond with the locals because I had to converse with the help of the translators which could be frustrating at times since they were unable to convey and replicate my expressions or feelings. It was tedious to form a relationship which could compromise our work (teaching) as the children were very skeptical and wary of us as foreigners. However, one day, all of that changed. As I was teaching arts and craft in class, I decided to reply my friend's Snapchat while waiting for them to finish their coursework. When I was choosing a filter, suddenly I felt eyes watching me from behind and turned around. To my surprise, i was shocked to see 10 pairs of inquisitive eyes were watching me from behind, giggling and clapping whenever I changed the filter. It was the closest physical proximity between the children and I ever since I got here. Hence, seeing their elated faced, I decided to let them try on the different filters. Snapchat really eased the process of getting the children to open up to me and made the teaching process a whole lot easier. It made me reflect on the purpose of phones, such a minuscule device could bring about such joy and laugher to people regardless of race or religion. I agree that the addiction to mobile communication could be worrisome, nevertheless, on hindsight, I feel that as we evolve through this digital age, with a high level of discernment and broadened mind, we are able to use these devices to our advantage. In terms of education especially during these covid times, teaching and encouraging students to make good use of mobile and other new technologies and incorporate it into their curriculum and teaching-research for optimal use and application.

Atarodi, P (2020). "Cell Phone Use and Social Alienation of Young Teenagers" (2020). Retrieved 29 January, 2021, Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 3901.

Department, P., & 30, J. (2020, July 30). Singapore smartphone penetration 2017-2023. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/625441/smartphone-user-penetration-in-singapore/

Spigel, L. (2015). TV and the Spaces of Everyday Life. In Mediated Geographies and Geographies of Media (pp. 37-63). Springer, Dordrecht.

[hioktong]

Liquid Love (Hiok Tong)

The article "liquid love? Dating apps, sex, relationships and the digital transformation of intimacy" is an article written by Mitchell Jobbs, Stephen Owen and Livia Gerber and published in the Journal of Sociology. The article prefaces Zygmunt Bauman's arguments in Liquid Love (2003 and 2012), which mainly posit that the solidity and security of life-long partnerships have been 'liquified' by individualisation and technological change, that romance is now transformed into a commodified form of entertainment, and that life-long monogamous partnerships are "eroded by the extensive 'networks' of romantic personality". Through surveys and interviews, Jobbs et al seek to explore the ramifications of digital dating apps, whether the use of these apps indeed erode traditional ideas such as monogamy, commitment and romantic love, as well as the affordances provided by the technology. The findings concluded that traditional views on dating, relationships and monogamy are still largely prevalent— a great majority said they were just as inclined, or even more inclined, to seek a monogamous relationship since using dating apps. majority also preferred traditional ways of meeting a romantic partner. However, the findings also showed that to a certain extent, the technology encouraged and facilitated infidelity of its users. On the other hand, dating apps also provided users with greater agency and control over their romantic or sexual lives. Ultimately, many believe that technology merely enhanced desires and abilities to find a date — Jobbs et al believes that dating apps award its users the idea of networks of romantic possibility, which enhances a person's social capital, and brings various new opportunities along with new anxieties.

I believe the main advantage of dating apps is the wider social network that it provides. Contrary to Bauman's view on the security of relationships being compromised by dating apps — without dating apps, people might not be able to secure a relationship in the first place! Amidst friends in my social circles, the use of a dating app in looking for a partner is almost always a reluctant necessity. My single friends often retort their fears that upon graduation from university, they would find it extremely difficult to find a partner — without any fun student life facilitating the creation of new relationships, and with the added burden of work, there becomes less and less opportunity to meet a romantic partner in the traditional 'face-to-face' manner. In these situations, dating platforms help to connect people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to be connected.

Dating apps are also, on many accounts, better than traditional forms of matchmaking that it is said to replace. Dating apps give users much greater agency in being able to choose prospective partners whom they like and connect, and fundamentally accords them individual freedom and choice. These factors are, in my opinion, greatly important in ensuring one has more meaningful and fulfilling relationships. On the other hand, traditional matchmakers are used in certain cultures as intermediaries for parents to dictate and 'approve' of their child's romantic choices. There has been a great history of parents forcing their children into marriages of which they are totally unwilling — and as such, the shift towards dating apps is also emblematic of the shift towards free will in intimacy and the right to hold the reins to one's own romantic life. Additionally, dating apps also provide a sense of 'anonymity' in that it typically involves a prospective partner outside of one's social circle. To a certain extent, I believe that the process of meeting a new stranger and venturing into the dating process is more comfortable without the presence of other social ties — having to deal with rejection or non-ideal circumstances when being matchmake-d by someone in one's social circle can undoubtedly be awkward, as the repercussions of a failed date might be felt in one's social life.

At the end of the day, I believe that dating applications rarely change deeply ingrained personal beliefs; they merely act as intermediaries that provide new capabilities for people. Illuminating this with the example of people using dating apps as means to gain transient sexual encounters — dating apps do not create desire, but simply provide the ways in which people can act on them, and in so fulfil needs that are already present in peoples' lives.

[14883205]

Week 2

McCarthy and Wright demonstrate how technology – namely user experience design—has always been accommodative of communication and interaction—two innately human needs. In their essay, we are given glimpses of everyday interactions with technology. The library staff finds joy in receiving a short message from a long-distance friend.  The nurse is frustrated by the reductiveness of technology, as her patients emerge as mere bits of information in the system. The last anecdote has a neutral slant, where we see a father make use of the technology at home to facilitate his daily routine. Rather than demonise technology for diluting the essence of communication and social interaction, McCarthy and Wright detail how we are evolving technology to be synchronous to our emotional needs.

Like any other Generation Z kid, I find myself getting most of my emotional and communication needs fulfilled through technology. Even before the pandemic, my friends and I preferred texting and video calls to meeting up, as it saved us time and money. As McCarthy and Wright brought up, text messaging does not really diminish the quality nor ability to communicate.

Most of the online services I use, paid and unpaid, attempts to appeal to my emotional and intellectual sensibilities as well. Through algorithms, Youtube, Netflix, and even my iPhone’s Gallery curate and streamline content to my personal preferences. The ethics of these algorithms are still up for debate, but it is difficult to deny that they tend to align with our human needs and wants. Youtube recommends similar paranormal-related channels after I binge on Buzzfeed Unsolved. Netflix tells me I might enjoy another corny romantic comedy after I finish a whole round of Noah Centineo movies. And after reading this essay, I realise that these features are not just exclusive to streaming services. iPhone Gallery periodically reminds me of things that happened exactly a year ago, putting together a video montage every month to show me everyday snapshots of my life. Often, these photos are long-forgotten and unremarkable in the moment. A candid shot of my finished dinner at a sushi place, a blurry image of a friend doing something silly. The iPhone Gallery manages to condense fleeting moments into a short clip, reminding me of how the dullest moments have their own shine as well. This resonates with McCarthy and Wright’s statement on how technology has evolved to capture the emotional needs of a human.