Stuck on The Platform:
Politics and Psychology of the Social Media Age
Geert Lovink
Introduction: Ebru Yetiskin
In this talk, Geert Lovink, one of today's most important media theorists, focuses on social media platforms and the contemporary techno-sociality. It explores key elements of platform culture theory and their appeal, including online addiction, Zoom fatigue, cancel culture, toxic viral memes, NFTs, and fake news. He shows that designing sites to solve these problems, no matter how apolitical they try to be, fail to produce either serious criticism or legitimate alternatives. Arguing that another network culture is possible, Lovink urges us to consider the intimacy engineering of these sites because, in his view, boredom is the first stage in overcoming “platform nihilism” which can free us to organize to stop the data harvesting industries that run them.
Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist and activist, one of the key figures of critical network culture in past thirty years: from Digital City Amsterdam and nettime to Institute of Network Cultures. He wrote and edited more than a dozen of books, including Social Media Abyss and Stuck on the Platform, both available in Turkish.
* The conversation will be held in English. You can create your registration by using the "Register" button on the page and receive your free event invitation. Participation is limited to 120 people.