When spatially separated people focus on the same things at the same time, their actions and thoughts become coordinated. Perhaps the quintessential example of this is the impulse to celebrate the arrival of a new year by watching the ball drop, whether in person, on television, or on the internet or digital media. When this happens, people feel a unity in knowing that many others are doing the same thing at the same moment, and they feel socially connected, often quite strongly. This unity through simultaneity and synchronicity, conceptualized by sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel in a largely pre-digital age (1981) and coined as “temporal symmetry,” has great relevance for the digital era, and helps to explain why the internet and digitally mediated culture have become so popular and consequential, and such an indispensable part of modern everyday life. This article details how temporal symmetry and social synchronicity are generated via digital technology in such activities as viewing of live events via livestream, texting, posting and responding synchronously to one another online and on social media, and taking part in live-blogging, live Twitter chats, and group text messaging. It examines how the temporal coordination of individuals’ streams of thought and internal rhythms can result in feelings of interpersonal similarity and solidarity. Finally, it discusses the impact of these phenomena on living in a digitally mediated internet culture.
About the presenterMary Chayko
Dr. Mary Chayko is a sociologist, social media researcher, and professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information (SC&I). Her research is on the impact of digital technology and social media on relationships, community, society, and self. She directs the Gender and Media minor and the Digital Communication, Information, and Media minor at SC&I, and is the author of Superconnected: The Internet, Digital Media, and Techno-Social Life (Sage), Third Edition.