our orientation toward objects as sources of the self, of relational intimacy,
of shared subjectivity and of social integration’ (9).
However, for Knorr-Cetina, the relationship of individuals to tech-
nology isn’t just a matter of ritual, although this is strong, but of turning
everyday objects like commodities and instruments into knowledge
objects in ways that become meaningful as such. Where the propensity of
a particular individual to do this (which may vary according to gender
and age) is either resisted or too intense, it attracts a label – technophobia
or addiction (see Brosnan, 1998).
In Knorr-Cetina’s work, where the notion of solidarity is brought into
the scenario of an object-centred sociality, it also needs to be epistemically
grounded and not only ritually derived (19). In other words, having an
epistemic intimacy with the object is important, not just the routine ritual
of ‘using’ it as a means to some end. And indeed, in post-social societies,
Knorr-Cetina claims that such an intimacy is beginning to eclipse intimacy
with other human beings.
Consider the following statement from William Mitchell (1996) about
his personal use of the Internet:The keyboard is my café. Each morning I turn to some nearby machine – my
modest personal computer at home, a more power ful workstation in one of
the offices or laboratories that I frequent, or a laptop in a hotel room – to
log into electronic mail. I click on an icon to open an ‘inbox’ filled with
messages from round the world – replies to technical questions, queries for
me to answer, drafts of papers, submissions of student work, appoint-
ments, travel and meeting arrangements, bits of business, greetings,
reminders, chitchat, gossip, complaints, tips, jokes, flirtation. I type replies
immediately, then drop them into an ‘outbox,’ from which they are for-
warded automatically to the appropriate destinations. If I have time before
I finish gulping my coffee, I also check the wire ser vices and a couple of
specialized news ser vices to which I subscribe, then glance at the latest
weather report. This ritual is repeated whenever I have a spare moment
during the day. (7)What emerges here is that, whilst the meetings, the travel, the ‘content’,
the business of institutional life vary from day to day, the technological
ritual of clicking on is constant, enduring and cathartic.Digital intimacy
Theories of object-relations are not entirely new, and have had a long-
standing tradition in psychoanalytic theory. But few have related such
theories to a transition from one kind of social form to another, or to the
significance of media as relationship partners. One such theorist, referred
to by Knorr-Cetina, is Sherry Turkle, who manages to combine both a
concern for social change and an attachment to digital technology.Telecommunity 183Holmes-06.qxd 2/15/2005 1:03 PM Page 183