Digital Disengagement

This site is dedicated to our ongoing research project, Digital Disengagement.

We coined the term, 'digital disengagement’ to refer to the conscious reduction or rejection of the use of digital devices or communication platforms, and an opting-out of connective digital networks.

Digital disengagement is not just a phenomenon, we use it as a conceptual and political tool to think about resistance in an increasingly digitised and networked age. As part of our umbrella research, we are looking into a number of very diverse aspects of digital disengagement: for example, the mountaining concerns about the digital are coming from ordinary citizens and in particular; or their practices of everyday resistance to dataisation, whether by individually giving up a gadget, disconnecting from a platform, limiting digital consumption, or safeguarding their information; or by collectively organising with others to “uplug”, or “log out”. We are also examining different areas of digital economy and sociality (such as environmental sustainability policies, or the emergence of “digital health”), where algorithms, platforms and big data are being rapidly normalised as chief and ultimate solutions, setting the digital as default and leaving little room for opting out.

To get in touch with us, please email digitaldisengagementproject [@] gmail [.] com