Mood and Materiality: Invited seminar presentation, ‘Materials in Practice’ reading group

Description

We are active with our mobile devices; we play games, watch films, listen to music, check social media, and tap screens and keyboards while we are on the move. In this presentation I argue that not only do we communicate, process information, and entertain ourselves through devices and social media; we also receive, modify, intensify, and transmit moods. Drawing on research from a range of disciplines, including experimental psychology, phenomenology, cultural theory, and architecture, I show that users of social media are not simply passive receivers of moods; they are complicit in making moods. From curiosity and pleasure to anxiety and melancholy I show that devices and technologies do affect people’s moods, although not always directly. The talk is based on my new book just out Mood and Mobility: Navigating the Emotional Spaces of Digital Social Networks with MIT Press.

Period	4 Mar 2016
Event type	Seminar
Location	Cambridge, United KingdomShow on map