<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>There is an emerging range of self-help guides advising users on how to minimise their interaction with media. The aim is to create a lifestyle and identity that is less media-centred and more grounded in “real life”. This article discusses media self-help in the light of theories of media domestication, highlighting processes where the aim is to reduce the importance of, rather than to incorporate, media and communication technology into users’ lives. Based on a sample of 30 guides from the self-help site <italic>Wikihow</italic> dealing with how to handle television, games and social media respectively, the article discusses media self-help strategies in relation to key concepts of domestication theory: appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion. In conclusion, the article argues that strategies of withdrawal and resistance should receive more attention in media studies, and point to the concept of <italic>reverse domestication</italic> as one way of highlighting such strategies.</p>
</abstract>

There is an emerging range of self-help guides advising users on how to minimise their interaction with media. The aim is to create a lifestyle and identity that is less media-centred and more grounded in “real life”. This article discusses media self-help in the light of theories of media domestication, highlighting processes where the aim is to reduce the importance of, rather than to incorporate, media and communication technology into users’ lives. Based on a sample of 30 guides from the self-help site Wikihow dealing with how to handle television, games and social media respectively, the article discusses media self-help strategies in relation to key concepts of domestication theory: appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion. In conclusion, the article argues that strategies of withdrawal and resistance should receive more attention in media studies, and point to the concept of reverse domestication as one way of highlighting such strategies.

You Can’t Smell Roses Online: Intruding Media and Reverse Domestication

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"You Can\u2019t Smell Roses Online: Intruding Media and Reverse Domestication"}

There is an emerging range of self-help guides advising users on how to minimise their interaction with media. The aim is to create a lifestyle and identity...

You Can’t Smell Roses Online: Intruding Media and Reverse Domestication

Published Online: Jul 07, 2020

Page range: 25 - 39

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2016-0021

Keywords
domestication, reverse domestication, self-help, television, games, social media, Wikihow

© 2016 Faltin Karlsen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

You Can’t Smell Roses Online: Intruding Media and Reverse Domestication

Published Online: Jul 07, 2020

Page range: 25 - 39

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2016-0021

Keywordsdomestication, reverse domestication, self-help, television, games, social media, Wikihow

© 2016 Faltin Karlsen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
domestication, reverse domestication, self-help, television, games, social media, Wikihow