Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Smart phones, Simulacra, Prince and The Matrix: Why I (also) don't want to be a Digital Witness

Avid Sociology Lens readers (as I am sure you all are) will have already read Roger Tyler’s piece this week; “Digital Witness: Memory vs. Experience”. In it, he discusses his experiences of attending Glastonbury Festival and the summer solstice at Stonehenge, and how in both cases he felt showed examples of how obsessed we have become with the need to document and record our experiences as they are happening. Even as the fireworks go off or the sun comes up,...