How we connect: dilemmas, paradoxes and dynamics. A critical study of the internet's impact on societies

How we connect is today in no small measure influenced by Internet technologies. While societies have always been shaped by how people connect, the dynamics that generate, maintain, and reproduce our connections change. Today, with the widespread reliance upon and adaption to internet-based connectivity in everyday life, such transformations are particularly pronounced. This thesis critically explores the dynamics of how we connect within the context of our complex and technologically mediated lives, focusing on what I term the technological dilemma and the paradoxes of connectivity.

At the crux of my discussion is the argument that the technological dilemma has always sat at the heart of sociological discourse, serving as an embedded aspect of foundational theory that posit normative questions about the emancipatory and constraining influence of technology on individuals and societies. As modernity and technological innovation have progressed, the reach of the dilemma has expanded, now manifesting as pluralised and paradoxical in both form and effect. The resulting paradoxes of connectivity are subsequently approached in this thesis as a representative feature of our connectedness, with my focus thus concentrated on building an understanding of the underlying normative dynamics that perpetuate the lived experience of this connectivity through a critical and empirically grounded lens.

The normative dynamics of connectivity are explored with the aid of Erich Fromm's conceptualisation of the 'social character'. Using a characterological approach to guide my analysis, a qualitative investigation that uses Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology draws out empirically substantiated insights into the dynamics of connectivity. The analyses thus explore the technological dilemma and paradoxes of connectivity as they are playing out during everyday life. The key findings are encapsulated within the mid-level themes of the logic of efficiency, volatile interpretations, and decentralised forms of knowing.