Abstract
In this Chapter I discuss the various social surveillance practices my participants engage in on an everyday basis while using Facebook. I emphasise the role of intimacy and social context in structuring how and why surveillance takes place, and what consequences result. I build up to a discussion of voyeuristic ‘spying’ and the way it ‘steals’ intimacies from weak ties in order to morally and biographically articulate the self. Because of its distinctly artificial qualities, I term this process ‘prosthetic intimacy’. It can be contrasted with the more natural, ‘symbiotic’ intimacy which is produced from watching and interacting with close friends. Finally, I discuss how Facebook affords a kind of subjective truth-giving, constituted through the mediated gaze, which I term first-hand judgement. This becomes significant in the following chapter, as this gaze can often make participants feel objectified and dissatisfied with Facebook.
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© 2013 Alex Lambert
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Lambert, A. (2013). Prosthetic Intimacy. In: Intimacy and Friendship on Facebook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287144_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287144_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-32284-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-28714-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)