Submission Deadline: January 24th 2027

Location: University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

Date: Thursday 3 June 2027, 8.30am - 5.00pm

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ica27disconnectionprecon/ 

In the spirit of the ICA 2027 conference theme, Centering the Human: Communication in an Age of Uncertainty, the 6th Digital Disconnection Pre-conference invites scholars at all career stages to reflect on human-centered perspectives in digital disconnection research.

Rapid technological change and growing societal uncertainty are reshaping how people communicate, connect, and disconnect. Concerns about platform power, algorithmic governance, information overload, surveillance, generative AI, digital well-being, climate crises, and misinformation and political polarization have intensified calls to reconsider our relationship with digital technologies. Against this backdrop, practices of digital disconnection, whether temporary or permanent, voluntary or imposed, individual or collective, have emerged as an increasingly important area of communication and media scholarship. This pre-conference is a space for digital disconnection scholars to explore how digital disconnection research can (re-)center humanity in times of rapid technological change and growing societal uncertainty.

The aim of the pre-conference is threefold:

• Provide a forum for presenting and discussing emerging research, including empirical, theoretical, and methodological perspectives on digital disconnection;

• Foster exchange and networking across disciplines, regions, and career stages, and encourage collaborations that strengthen and advance digital disconnection research;

• Collectively develop and advance a human-centered research agenda for digital disconnection studies.

We welcome submissions that engage with human-centered perspectives on digital disconnection, focusing on how people negotiate dis/connection, how human agency is exercised in negotiating structural constraints shaped by technology, and how disconnection relates to broader questions of inclusion, well-being, ethics, care, autonomy, and social relationships in times of uncertainty.

We invite submissions on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Individual and relational dimensions of disconnection:

  • Digital well-being, mental health, and quality of life

  • Human agency, autonomy, and resistance in digital environments

  • Care, relationships, and boundary management

  • Disconnection across the life course

• Structural and political dimensions:

  • Inequalities and inclusion (e.g., across social groups, cultures, regions, or scholarly perspectives)

  • (Generative) AI and intentional (non)use

  • Big tech, platform power, surveillance, and digital rights

  • Digital labor and the right to disconnect

  • Technology (non)use and climate health

• Methodological and theoretical innovations in digital disconnection research:

  • New methods, software, and research tools

  • Theoretical developments and conceptual approaches

  • Connections and intersections across research fields

We welcome contributions from all disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical traditions and from graduate students to senior scholars. Practitioners are also encouraged to participate. The event is meant to be open, informal, and conversational.

Submission Formats

The pre-conference invites two kinds of submissions: 1) extended abstracts and 2) interactive panel sessions and workshops. In-person attendance is expected for all formats.

Extended abstracts:

Empirical, theoretical, or methodological work related to the pre-conference theme. We welcome contributions at all stages of development, including completed studies, work in progress, and conceptual papers. In the abstract, include a brief description (max. five sentences) of how the contribution fits with the pre-conference theme. Accepted extended abstracts will be presented as oral presentations in thematic sessions. 

Interactive panel sessions or workshops:
Formats that actively involve the audience. Panels may bring together invited panelists on a shared topic or use formats such as a fishbowl, where a small group opens the discussion and audience members can join by taking an open seat. Workshops should engage participants through hands-on activities or skill sharing rather than presentations. The proposal should describe the title, goals, format, detailed time planning, and the connection to the pre-conference theme.

Requirements for all submissions

• Max. 750 words, excluding tables, figures, and references (APA 7th edition).

• Two separate PDF files:

  • an anonymized file without any author information;

  • a non-anonymized file listing all authors, panelists, or workshop organizers with affiliations and a short bio (max. 30 words per person).

• Submissions must be original: the work must not have been presented or accepted elsewhere, including at the ICA 2027 main conference or other ICA pre-conferences.

Submissions

The submission deadline is January 24th 2027. Submit via: https://uva.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d1lxQaQW28U6oqG 

Review Process

Submissions will be reviewed anonymously by the organizing committee based on fit with the pre-conference theme, contribution to digital disconnection research (originality and relevance); quality of the theoretical, methodological, or empirical approach; clarity of presentation; for panels and workshops additionally: interactivity and potential to engage participants, diversity of perspectives, and feasibility within the time slot.

Notifications will be sent by February 20th 2027, coinciding with the release of the ICA27 conference schedule, to accommodate travel planning. Registration opens first for presenters, and later for other participants.

Contact 

For any questions, contact the pre-conference chairs: Minh Hao Nguyen (m.h.nguyen@uva.nl) and Kathrin Karsay (kathrin.karsay@univie.ac.at).

Organizing Committee

Alex Beattie (Victoria University of Wellington) | Scott Campbell (Ohio State University) | Francesca Comunello (Sapienza Università di Roma) | Francesca Ieracitano (Sapienza Università di Roma) | Ana Jorge (Universidade Lusófona) | Kathrin Karsay (University of Vienna) | Julius Klingelhöfer (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) | Minh Hao Nguyen (University of Amsterdam) | Mora Matassi (Universidad de San Andrés) | Adrian Meier-Ernst (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) | Lise-Marie Nassen (University of Amsterdam) | Douglas Parry (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) | Morgan Quinn Ross (Oregon State University) | Katharina Rupp (University of Vienna) | Trine Syvertsen (University of Oslo) | Sara van Bruyssel (Ghent University)

The 6th Preconference on Digital Disconnection is kindly sponsored by: