Prosthetic Intimacy

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.