ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the discussions of the previous chapter, which sought to establish a theory of recognition and mutuality in always-on contexts. It deepens the exploration of social media identity politics, contextualising this within both everyday social media interactions and within the contemporary celebrity cultures associated with social media personalities and influencers. Through a further exploration of selfobjects within this context, the chapter discusses some of the distinctions that may be made between ‘connectivity’ and ‘connectedness’ – the latter relating to mutuality and proximal, interpersonal connections, rather than mediatised, persistent connectivity characteristic of the contemporary media ecosystem. The chapter also explores the instrumental nature of social media interaction, with its specific focus on image production as an amplification of cathecting processes, which increases the rapidity of feedback in accelerated modes of social media engagement. The chapter develops the psychological aspects of Honneth’s model of self-realisation to fully account for fragmentary notions of personhood found in the always-on, extending this aspect of connectivity to take into account disinhibition effects that emerge through contemporary accelerated media ecosystems. This is achieved through consideration of Benjamin’s notion of mutual recognition through intersubjective experience and the possibilities presented by notions of ‘thirdness’.
