Social media, emoticons and process

Ellis, Darren

Abstract

In this chapter I analyse notions of ‘personal information’ and ‘emoticons’ by drawing on some concepts form Whitehead’s process philosophy. I will look at some of the ways that they are prehended through acts of concrescence to form as actual entities within the social media context. Interview data concerning everyday use of social media is drawn upon for the analysis. I conclude that ‘personal information’ is often prehended as impersonal due, in part, to its marketability; whilst ‘emoticons’ may be prehended as more personal, these are pre-produced as universal and basic, qualities which tend to fix and strip away at emotion’s affect related dynamics. This occurs through the multiple desires associated with social media, to simplify and qualify actual occasions.

• Publication Date: Dec 3, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 7, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 9, 2023
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Pages: 18-26
• Book Title: Affect and Social Media: Emotion, Mediation, Anxiety and Contagion
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10337018
• Publisher URL: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786604385/Affect-and-Social-Media-Emotion-Mediation-Anxiety-and-Contagion