The Social Space Station

Ambient intimacy revisited

I first mentioned ambient intimacy on this site way back in June. This idea was originally discussed by Lisa Reichelt on her blog Disambiguity (I like it so the station is in frequent orbit) where she elegantly explains her ideas behind the phrase.

Recently a short article was published at the New Statesmen which argued that ambient intimacy was helping contribute to the confusion between public and private space. That is, millions of online users haphazardly throwing up personal information all over the Internet with the aim of maintaining communication with those they already know and others that they would like to know (at least online). As a result, the youth of today (this is only implied however) have no qualms about fully disclosing every aspect of their lives with the implication being a lack of a “healthy notion of what is private and what is public”.

There is clearly some truth to this statement but it seems to me that this article attributes too much to ambient intimacy.

While it is true that maintaining social connectedness through phatic communication (aim is to be socialable rather than exchange information) and sharing other minutiae using photos, videos, text etc. are significant drivers for the dizzying rates of online interaction, there are others. These include factors like: growing isolationism in local communities, the ease of online communication, the fun factor, distance relationship maintenance, reputation, eye on the payoff, access to high-speed Internet, innate curiosity, boredom and many more.

I think that the article made some legitimate claims but without really exploring any in real detail.