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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Digitox: Intrusive media, ambivalent users and digital detox

Alternative title: Digitox: Invaderende medier, ambivalente brukere og digital detox

Awarded: NOK 10.1 mill.

Since 2019, the Digitox project has successfully increased the knowledge about digital disconnection and platform power in society. The project has high international visibility through networking and collaboration with other projects, and is working on publishing more books and articles based on its extensive research material. In 2023, issues related to platform power, screen use, and attention economy have become important topics. The EU has initiated regulatory framework and legislative changes to regulate platforms, while mobile bans are being discussed in schools and there is growing criticism of smartphone and screen overuse. An increasing number of media channels, educational institutions, workplaces, and libraries are concerned about the issues of screen use, concentration, and mental health. The Digitox project contributes to research and communication on these issues. The project has also established the concept of "digital frakobling" in Norwegian (snl.no) and introduced the concept of "sjekkeløype" in Norwegian. The latter describes the series of apps people go through when checking their phones, and how this is extended through push notifications and other attention-grabbing methods. As the project enters its final year, the results can be summarized in three main points: Firstly, the project has increased knowledge about digital disconnection and the responsibility related to platform power through various studies. The material includes over 70 interviews, 60 field dialogues, a survey on the COVID-19 situation with over 500 responses, and analyses of documents, apps, and media texts. In 2023, the project also conducted a representative survey conducted by Kantar. The survey clearly shows how the intense digitization in recent years has contributed to increased "net fatigue". While just over half of the population answered affirmatively in 2018 that they were "online too much", two-thirds of the population now give the same answer in 2023. The project is working on combining the findings from the survey with the qualitative data in articles and books. Secondly, the project has prioritized international visibility through networking and the establishment of the field of "disconnection studies". Through digital seminars, pre-conferences, panels at international conferences, and collaboration on an anthology, the project has contributed to competence building and international collaboration. Our email list counts 110 participants, while our PhD candidates are running an international network for fellow PhD candidates. In 2023, Brita Ytre-Arne published the book "Media Use in Digital Everyday Life" (Emerald, open access), which contextualizes the findings of Digitox's user surveys in a broader academic perspective. In 2024, the anthology "The Digital Backlash and Paradoxes of Disconnection" will be published, which is a collaboration between Digitox and similar projects in other countries. Thirdly, the project has prioritized dissemination nationally and internationally, a task that is intensified now in the final phase of the project. The interest in the project's results and perspectives is high, as evidenced by a large number of inquiries. Digitox has engaged in dialogue with various stakeholders during the project period, and based on feedback from them, we have changed the format for the planned stakeholder conference. Instead of holding a standalone conference, the project has developed a dissemination format suitable for dialogue meetings in workplaces and events. The format includes a brief introduction where we present the main results of the project, followed by a dialogue between the participants and several of the project's researchers. So far, we have conducted such meetings at public libraries, specialized libraries, conferences, events for teachers, and at the Ministry of Culture, with more planned. Digitox covers the expenses, so the events are free for participants. This has expanded the project's network and contributed to a more dialogic dissemination. The project has also contributed to teaching materials, and so far, five Master's theses have been completed. Digitox draws on interdisciplinary insights from media studies, game studies, and psychology, and is a collaboration between the University of Oslo (Trine Syvertsen, Ole Jacob Madsen, Gunn Enli, Karin Fast), the University of Bergen (Brita Ytre-Arne, Hallvard Moe, Mehri Agai), and Kristiania University College (Faltin Karlsen, Kari Spjeldnæs). Since the fall of 2021, Yukun You has been affiliated with the project as a PhD student from UiO, and from 2023, Victoria Kratel is a new PhD candidate affiliated with the project from Kristiania. In November 2023, Kari Spjeldnæs is defending her dissertation "Digital Influence, Digital Platforms, and Disconnected Presence" at the University of Bergen.

Digitox studies causes, implications, and reactions to intensified digital media involvement in a situation of rising concerns over intrusive media and digital overload. While many studies imply or emphasise the value of connection, and the positive and enabling potentials of digital media, this project analyses ambivalence, resistance and attempts at withdrawal and disconnection. A key thesis is that current features of digital media produce conflicts and tensions both in the lives of individuals and in the public sphere, and the project studies how problems with intense digital media engagement are conceptualised historically, among users, on the level of policy, and in industry. Furthermore, the project studies how potentially problematic aspects of digital media (and possible solutions) are framed in texts advocating digital detox, in software designed to limit media involvement, and in experiences of users who disconnect. While the project is transnational in scope, investigating the impact of global media and platforms, it also discusses Norwegian media and digital politics, industry responsibility and user norms. With its high level of online use, ambitious ICT and media policies, Norway is a critical case for studying digital ambivalence, resistance and detox. The theoretical ambition is to advance the research field of disconnection and detox through a cross-disciplinary investigation drawing on theories of intrusiveness, flow and responsibilization. The project employs a mixed method approach, combining interviews and textual analysis with targeted methodologies such as observation, user experiments and log data. Through activities such as public lectures, round-table discussions, and detox events, a key objective is to contribute to discussions over political, industry and user responsibility for handling dilemmas and conflicts pertaining to digital media.

Publications from Cristin

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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam