Digital Disconnection as a Reconfiguration of Mediation: A Postphenomenological Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26439/contratexto2026.n45.8797Keywords:
Digital disconnection, postphenomenology, technological mediation, digital media, unconscious scrolling, mindless scrollingAbstract
This conceptual trailer examines digital disconnection through a postphenomenological lens, with the aim of broadening the scope of discussion on disconnection studies and people’s relationships with the media. Social media use often shifts from conscious to unconscious engagement, moving from attentive and engaged content consumption to automatic, low-attention interactions that prompt users to intentionally disconnect from the content. While empirical analyses describe the experiences and decisions involved in disconnection, they do not explain the underlying relationships between individuals and digital media that shape this phenomenon. To address this gap, the analysis draws on post-phenomenology, which conceptualizes technologies as mediators of meaning-making in experience. Within this framework, this study examines how changes in person-digital medium mediation shape disconnection practices. Observations of mindless scrolling on social media support the theoretical argument that disconnection is a reconfiguration of post-phenomenological mediation: the app shifts from being transparent to opaque as mediation becomes unsatisfactory. The breakdown of transparency serves as a phenomenological marker of this change, but it is not its cause. Therefore, disconnection is framed as a reconfiguration of the person-media relationship that persists during periods of non-use. By using qualitative narratives as illustrative cases for post-phenomenological analysis, the trailer advances our understanding of digital disconnection as a dynamic and relational process in contemporary media consumption.
Downloads
References
Aydin, C. (2018). From camera obscura to fMRI: How brain imaging technologies mediate free will. En J. Aagaard, J. Kyrre Berg Friis, J. Sorenson, O. Tafdrup & C. Hasse (Eds.), Postphenomenological methodologies: New ways in mediating techno-human relationships (pp. 103-121). Lexington Books.
Ihde, D. (1995). Postphenomenology: Essays in the postmodern context. Northwestern University Press.
Ihde, D. (2009). Postphenomenology and technoscience. The Peking University lectures. Suny Press.
Nassen, L. M., Vandebosch, H., Poels, K., & Karsay, K. (2023). Opt-out, abstain, unplug. A systematic review of the voluntary digital disconnection literature. Telematics and Informatics, 81, 101980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2023.101980
Rosenberger, R. (2009). The sudden experience of the computer. AI & Society, 24(2), 173-180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-009-0190-9
Rosenberger, R., & Verbeek, P. P. (2015). A field guide to postphenomenology. In R. Rosenberger and P. P. Verbeek (Eds.), Postphenomenological investigations: Essays on human-technology relations (pp. 9-41). Lexington Books.
Ross, M. Q., Gilbert, A., Klingelhoefer, J., Matassi, M., Nassen, L. M., Van Bruyssel, S., Verlinden, A., & Parry, D. A. (2024). Mapping a pluralistic continuum of approaches to digital disconnection. Media, Culture & Society, 46(4), 851-862. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241228785
Susser, D. (2017). Transparent media and the development of digital habits. En Y. Van Den Eede, S. O’Neal Irwin & G. Wellner (Eds.), Postphenomenology and Media: Essays on Human-Media-World Relations (pp. 27-44). Lexington Books.
Van den Eede, Y., Irwin, S. O., & Wellner, G. (2017). Introduction: "What media do". En Y. Van den Eede, S. O'Neal Irwin, & G. Wellner (Eds.), Postphenomenology and Media: Essays on Human-Media-World Relations (pp. xvii-xxxii). Lexington Books.
Vargas-Bianchi, L. León, L., & Mateus, J.-C. (2026). Regulando la distancia digital: interferencias y bienestar anticipado en la desconexión entre jóvenes. Palabra Clave, 4(28), e2845. https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2025.28.4.5
Verbeek, P. P. (2005). What things do: Philosophical reflections on technology, agency, and design. Penn State Press.
Verbeek, P. P. (2011). Moralizing technology: Understanding and designing the morality of things. University of Chicago Press.
Verbeek, P. P. (2015). Beyond interaction: A short introduction to mediation theory. Interactions, 22(3), 26-31. https://doi.org/10.1145/2751314
Wellner, G. (2017). I-media-world: The algorithmic shift from hermeneutic relations to writing relations. En Y. Van Den Eede, S. O’Neal Irwin & G. Wellner (Eds.), Postphenomenology and Media: Essays on Human-Media-World Relation (pp. 207-227). Lexington Books.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All of the works published are licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution license. (updated on March 1st 2021)
The content of the journal may be shared in any material or format. The content may be adapted, contributed upon and transformed. Both possibilities are only permitted in so far as they complete the following conditions:
- Attribution: Credit must be given where it is due, a link to the license must be provided and changes, if made, must be indicated. This should be done in the manner deemed appropriate, without suggesting that the licensor promotes you or your use of the material.
Ownership rights
The patrimonial rights for Contratexto are published under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 license, allowing authors to keep the patrimonial rights to their work without restrictions.
If a work published in Contratexto were to be copied, distributed, spread, or any other activities contemplated in the aforementioned license, the author(s) and the journal must be mentioned visibly and expressly.
Self-archive
This journal allows and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal.
