The rise of phatic communication - social media and the emptiness of meaning by Alan Gerstle
When Roman Jackobsen identified one of the functions of language as the phatic function, it’s doubtful that he ever imagined that social media would create an environment where people communicate solely for the purpose of communicating. Bereft of content, or riddled with cliches that render so-called information “redundancy” as Bateson would say, had turned Americans into a nation of chatters. However, I believe its fair to say those who would chat over the phone or over dinner are the same people who would use social media as a communication device. In effect, they provide people with a means of talking about nothing, which is the whole point. In a world where the individual feels helpless in the face of global problems, you can face them and work to improve them, or, if you perceive the world of problems outside your own immediate environment overwhelming, what better way to throw up your hands in frustration than to talk about nothing. Seinfeld, the show about nothing, was only on for an hour, and the audience were observers. What social media has done is to create a democracy of nothingness.
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