文章基本信息

标题：Technology Resistance and de Certeau: Deceptive Texting as a Tactic of Everyday Life
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作者：Kate Mannell
期刊名称：PLATFORM : Journal of Media and Communication
电子版ISSN：1836-5132
出版年度：2017
卷号：8
期号：1
页码：40-55
出版社：University of Melbourne
摘要：Previous research has identified the “butler lie”—a lie told through text message to explain why someoneis, was, or will be unavailable for interaction (Hancock et al., 2009). The concept of butler lying wasestablished by Hancock et al. (2009, p. 519) who coined the term in allusion “to the social bufferingfunction that butlers provided for their employers” when lying to visitors about whether family memberswere home. Several studies indicate that butler lies are a common means of managing social availability(Birnholtz et al., 2010; Birnholtz et al., 2013; Reynolds et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2014). Drawing on aninterview based study into the experiences of telling and receiving butler lies via text message, this articleargues that butler lies can be understood as a form of technology resistance as they represent an effort toevade the perpetual connectivity afforded by mobile communication technologies. However, as aquotidian and often habitual practice, one enacted through the technology it also resists, butler lies falloutside current conceptualisations of technology resistance which have tended to focus on self-reflexiveacts of limiting or rejecting particular technologies. To aid in framing butler lies as a resistant practice, Iturn to de Certeau’s (1984) concept of ‘“tactics” as a means of theorising mundane, habitual modes oftechnology resistance. In doing so, I seek not only to introduce butler lying as a concept of technologyresistance, but to demonstrate the significance of developing the largely latent connections between deCerteau and research on technology resistance.