Net Ambivalence

Patrick Jagoda’s “Network Ambivalence” seems to offer a very practical and intellectually astute strategy for negotiating between uncritically submitting to network connectivity and completely withdrawing from networks. Jagoda’s ‘Network ambivalence’ partially seems like such a fitting term because the common definition of the word ‘ambivalence’ refers to having contradictory or mixed feelings about something. This seems easily applicable to how users who utilize ubiquitous network technology can both enjoy and resent their devices and the apps they use on them. Too often discussions and writing on technology seem to take a utopian outlook or a damning perspective. Jagoda points out that negotiating network use does not have to be an either/or division, and Joe also picked up on this. He wisely notes that networks “are not absolutely determinate either of dystopia or utopia, corporate networking or human contact, technological disconnection or relational connection” (114). I also like Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello’s notion of the projective city that Kelly, Diana, and I read about in another class, and using that I would argue that the Internet is just an extension of our reality. Just like in the ‘real world’, the Internet offers both the good (donation opportunities for animal shelters, heartwarming videos, exercise tips, etc.) and bad (snuff videos, hate group sites, etc.) of life. Just as the Internet includes both positive and destructive content, taking the road of network ambivalence might allow for the positive benefits of network use while promoting awareness of its drawbacks. While reading both Jagoda’s essay and Scott’s piece, I thought of Louis C.K.’s stand-up bit about how drivers will risk getting fined or into a car crash just to text instead of sitting alone and dealing with their feelings of sadness or boredom. C.K. mentioned something about how people need to be able to sit and “be a person” instead of constantly letting technology be a distraction from sadness. Hopefully it’s not misrepresentative of Jagoda’s text to say that in choosing network ambivalence C.K.’s example driver would resist checking a cell phone when feelings of sadness come up and wait for a better and safer time to get positive benefits from network use.