Social media: implications for everyday life, politics and human agency

Authors

• André Jansson Karlstad University
• Mia Lövheim Uppsala University
• Susanna Paasonen University of Turku
• Johanna Sumiala University of Helsinki

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.67514

Keywords:

Social media, Digital media, Technology, Information technology, Mass media and politics, Mass media and culture, Internet, Everyday life

Abstract

With the current saturation of digital devices in contemporary society, the boundaries between humans and machines have become increasingly blurred. This digitalization of everyday life both obscures and reminds us of the fact that identity, agency and power cannot be attributed to the individual or the machine alone: rather, they are the outcome of interactions and negotiations within a network of actors. Social media, such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter and YouTube, show clearly that the ‘meaning’ or ‘effect’ of digital technologies is formed through the practices in which they are used and the social relations and institutions that develop around them. This article presents views expressed during a panel discussion on the implications of social media for everyday life, politics and human agency at the Aboagora Symposium, held on 14th August 2013. The panel was organized as a dialogue between the participants and the discussion was structured around three questions, presented below. The participants in the panel were; Professor André Jansson (Karlstad University), Professor Susanna Paasonen (University of Turku) and adjunct Professor Johanna Sumiala (University of Helsinki). The panel was chaired by Professor Mia Lövheim (Uppsala University).