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Paper short abstract

In The Tyranny of the Moment, Eriksen argues that intensified information flows, multitasking, and constant connectivity produce an “extreme hurriedness” that results in the compression of temporality. My research among users of Social Virtual Reality platforms suggests a more nuanced perspective.

Paper long abstract

Thomas Eriksen was an exceptionally prolific anthropologist and a polymorphous public intellectual, writer and musician whose research continues to generate scholarly debate. In this paper, I focus on one aspect of his work, namely The Tyranny of the Moment, in which he advances the idea that contemporary society is characterized by social acceleration driven largely by the expansion of new technologies, an analytical concern that underpins his later reflections on “overheating”. More specifically, I seek to enter into dialogue with Eriksen’s thoughts on the relationship between time and technology. In this book, Eriksen argues that intensified information flows, multitasking, and constant connectivity produce a condition of “extreme hurriedness” that results in the compression of temporality. While acknowledging the force of this diagnosis, my own research with users of Social Virtual Reality platforms (VRchat) suggests a more nuanced perspective. In these digital environments, acceleration does not appear to be the primary organizing principle of communication and interaction. Rather, participants devote extended periods to conversation, relationship-building and practices of self-exploration. They take time to become acquainted with one another, engage in prolonged exchanges, and privilege experiences of presence, freedom, and identity experimentation. Although temporality in these spaces may seem condensed in certain respects, they constitute enclaves in which slow rhythms of sociality and subjectivity emerge in the midst of the accelerating world.