Un-Friend My Heart: Facebook, Promiscuity, and Heartbreak in a Neoliberal Age

In interviews with Indiana University college students, undergraduates insisted that Facebook could be a threat to their romantic relationships. Some students choose to deactivate their Facebook accounts to preserve their relationships. No other new media was described as harmful. This article explo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropological quarterly 2011-10, Vol.84 (4), p.865-894
Main Author: Gershon, Ilana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alliances
Analysis
Anthropology
Capitalism
College Students
Couples
Economic liberalism
Facebook
Female-male relations
Friendship
Indiana
Influence
Interviews
Logic
Mass Media
Media
Neoliberalism
Online social networks
Personal relationships
Promiscuity
Romantic love
Self-concept
Sexual permissiveness
Social interaction
Social media
Social networks
Social relations
SPECIAL COLLECTION: THE ETHICS OF DISCONNECTION IN A NEOLIBERAL AGE
Students
Threat
U.S.A
Universities
University students
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Summary:In interviews with Indiana University college students, undergraduates insisted that Facebook could be a threat to their romantic relationships. Some students choose to deactivate their Facebook accounts to preserve their relationships. No other new media was described as harmful. This article explores why Facebook was singled out. I argue that Facebook encourages (but does not require) users to introduce a neoliberal logic to all their intimate relationships, which these particular users believe turns them into selves they do not want to be.
ISSN:0003-5491
1534-1518
1534-1518
DOI:10.1353/anq.2011.0048