The virtual network city and the long-tail of social media alienation

Christopher, David (author)

Castells’ fundamental first volume of his Information Age trilogy entitled The Rise of the Network Society (1996) significantly overlooks the social phenomena that comprise and lead back to insularisation in online networks and abroad. As the call for this special issue notes, “the world we live in today is characterised by high levels of interconnectivity, codependence, and overwhelming amounts of information”, which “shapes our desires” and “evoke[s] ideas of isolation, remoteness, and detachment from everyday worries.” (Oroz and Simonič2023) Unfortunately, these often unconscious desires to disconnect from McLuhan’s celebrated “global village” and Jameson’s unsavory “junkspace”, as repressed desires, may manifest as anti-social sentiments that develop longitudinally under the conditions of what I theorise as the virtual network city.

• Language: English
• Keywords: social anthropology, social media, social networks, network city, digital environment, alienation, insularisation
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication date: 01.07.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 86-104
• Numbering: Letn. 3, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179542
• UDC: 316.472.4:39
• ISSN on article: 2820-6088
• DOI: 10.4312/svetovi.3.2.86-104
• COBISS.SI-ID: 245486595
• Publication date in RUL: 16.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Svetovi
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2820-6088
• COBISS.SI-ID: 148550403

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Virtualno omrežno mesto in dolgi rep odtujenosti zaradi družbenih medijev

Abstract

Castellsov temeljni prvi del trilogije Information Age (Informacijska doba) z naslovom The Rise of the Network Society / Vzpon družbe omrežij (1996) pomenljivo spregleda družbene pojave, ki vključujejo in vodijo k izolaciji zaradi rabe spletnih omrežji. Kot je zapisano v vabilu k oddaji prispevkov za to posebno številko, je »za svet, v katerem danes živimo, značilna visoka stopnja medsebojne povezanosti, soodvisnosti in ogromna količina informacij«, kar »oblikuje naše želje« in »vzbuja ideje o izoliranosti, oddaljenosti in odmaknjenosti od vsakodnevnih skrbi« (Oroz and Simonič2023). Žal se te pogosto nezavedne želje po odklopu od McLuhanove slavne »globalne vasi« in Jamesonovega neprijetnega »junkspacea«, kot potlačenih želja, lahko manifestirajo kot antisocialna čustva, ki se razvijajo v okviru tega, kar teoretiziram kot virtualno omrežno mesto.

• Keywords: socialna antropologija, družbeni mediji, socialna omrežja, omrežno mesto, digitalno okolje, odtujenost, izolacija