The culture of speed -
Tomlinson
Class Media technology & society
Immediacy
Condition of immediacy
→ influences cultural practices, experiences & values
→ emerging out of the world of machine speed, but is very different
→ to make sense of new cultural phenomena (part of increasing tech-
driven velocity + refuse to fit into dominant cultural narratives)
Examples = shift in differentiation between work life & home life,
Googling ipv library, 24/7 stores& news, hyper-mediated commercial
interactions ipv face-to-face, digital photography, speed dating, speed
delivery, multitasking, smartphones as integral part of youth life
→ historically novel culture phenomena
Immediacy = cultural principle
In connection with space
→ freedom from intermediate agency
→ aka direct connection
In relation to time (seems most relevant)
→ occuring with delay
→ aka instantly
⇒ transform our society in a speed culture
Three core aspects
Culture of instantaneity
→ rapid delivery, ubiquitous availability & instant gratification of desires
Constant increasing of tempo of life
→ not just acceleration, but distinct quality to cultural experience
The culture of speed - Tomlinson 1
, Crucial significance of media
→ increasing role of electronic communication in routines of everyday life +
unprecedented mode of telemediated cultural experience
→ indispensable to the condition of immediacy
Integration of communication tech = transforming all dimensions of
society
→ globalizing, deterritorializing, shifting production, delivery &
consumption, producing new conveniences & anxieties
Implications for shift in emotional & aesthetic sensibilities + transformation
of ethical dispositions
Liquid modernity
Presents itself as a displacement of effort and labour from the imagined
social contract
Conjuring away of effort from imagination of an achievable good life
Lead to disappearance of value of effort from mainstream culture
Speed w/o progress - arrival w/o departure
Early modern speed = displayed will, force & effort involved in overcoming
the gap between what we desire & what we expect to receive (now & later,
here & there)
Culture of immediacy
→ imagination that the gap is already closed
→ redundancy or abolition of the middle term
→ offered to us in indication of how life is & how it should best be lived
Examples
→ effortlessness of communicating via phones = impression of both
instantaneity of contact & closeness of others
→ consumption = impression that new comforts, convenience &
refinements will flow independently of our individual efforts
Separation of desire & satisfaction = gone
→ through the constant of modern existence
→ eg experience of abolition of distance
The culture of speed - Tomlinson 2
Tomlinson
Class Media technology & society
Immediacy
Condition of immediacy
→ influences cultural practices, experiences & values
→ emerging out of the world of machine speed, but is very different
→ to make sense of new cultural phenomena (part of increasing tech-
driven velocity + refuse to fit into dominant cultural narratives)
Examples = shift in differentiation between work life & home life,
Googling ipv library, 24/7 stores& news, hyper-mediated commercial
interactions ipv face-to-face, digital photography, speed dating, speed
delivery, multitasking, smartphones as integral part of youth life
→ historically novel culture phenomena
Immediacy = cultural principle
In connection with space
→ freedom from intermediate agency
→ aka direct connection
In relation to time (seems most relevant)
→ occuring with delay
→ aka instantly
⇒ transform our society in a speed culture
Three core aspects
Culture of instantaneity
→ rapid delivery, ubiquitous availability & instant gratification of desires
Constant increasing of tempo of life
→ not just acceleration, but distinct quality to cultural experience
The culture of speed - Tomlinson 1
, Crucial significance of media
→ increasing role of electronic communication in routines of everyday life +
unprecedented mode of telemediated cultural experience
→ indispensable to the condition of immediacy
Integration of communication tech = transforming all dimensions of
society
→ globalizing, deterritorializing, shifting production, delivery &
consumption, producing new conveniences & anxieties
Implications for shift in emotional & aesthetic sensibilities + transformation
of ethical dispositions
Liquid modernity
Presents itself as a displacement of effort and labour from the imagined
social contract
Conjuring away of effort from imagination of an achievable good life
Lead to disappearance of value of effort from mainstream culture
Speed w/o progress - arrival w/o departure
Early modern speed = displayed will, force & effort involved in overcoming
the gap between what we desire & what we expect to receive (now & later,
here & there)
Culture of immediacy
→ imagination that the gap is already closed
→ redundancy or abolition of the middle term
→ offered to us in indication of how life is & how it should best be lived
Examples
→ effortlessness of communicating via phones = impression of both
instantaneity of contact & closeness of others
→ consumption = impression that new comforts, convenience &
refinements will flow independently of our individual efforts
Separation of desire & satisfaction = gone
→ through the constant of modern existence
→ eg experience of abolition of distance
The culture of speed - Tomlinson 2
