{"product_id":"digital-lethargy-isbn-9780262047111","title":"Digital Lethargy","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe exhaustion, disappointment, and listlessness experienced under digital capitalism, explored through works by contemporary artists, writers, and performers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes, interacting with digital platforms, we want to be passive—in those moments of dissociation when we scroll mindlessly rather than connecting with anyone, for example, or when our only response is a shrugging “lol.” Despite encouragement by these platforms to “be yourself,” we want to be anyone but ourselves. Tung-Hui Hu calls this state of exhaustion, disappointment, and listlessness \u003ci\u003edigital lethargy\u003c\/i\u003e. This condition permeates our lives under digital capitalism, whether we are “users,” who are what they click, or racialized workers in Asia and the Global South. Far from being a state of apathy, however, lethargy may hold the potential for social change.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eHu explores digital lethargy through a series of works by contemporary artists, writers, and performers. These dispatches from the bleeding edge of digital culture include a fictional dystopia where low-wage Mexican workers laugh and emote for white audiences; a group that invites lazy viewers to strap their Fitbits to a swinging metronome, faking fitness and earning a discount on their health insurance premiums; and a memoir of burnout in an Amazon warehouse. These works dwell within the ordinariness and even banality of digital life, redirecting our attention toward moments of thwarted agency, waiting and passing time. Lethargy, writes Hu, is a drag: it weighs down our ability to rush to solutions, and forces us to talk about the unresolved present.Introduction vii\u003cbr\u003e1 Start When It's Too Late 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Wait, Then Give Up 29\u003cbr\u003e3 Laugh Out Loud 63\u003cbr\u003e4 Enter Sleep Mode 95\u003cbr\u003e5 Feel Normal 123\u003cbr\u003e6 Do Nothing Together 147\u003cbr\u003ePostscript: Look Alive 177\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments 181\u003cbr\u003eNotes 183\u003cbr\u003eBibliography 217\u003cbr\u003eIndex 237“The acclaimed professor outlines his concept of digital lethargy — a state of exhaustion and listlessness under digital capitalism — through a collection of works by contemporary artists.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e“\u003c\/b\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eDigital Lethargy\u003c\/i\u003e, the academic and poet Tung-Hui Hu quotes from the scholar Anne Anlin Cheng when discussing the German writer Heike Geissler’s novel, Seasonal Associate, set in an Amazon sorting facility: “How do we take seriously the life of a subject who lives as an object?” Hu’s point, essentially, is to ask how art can best approach the flattening, depersonalizing effects of the internet. It’s a good question, one that I’m unsure if many novels have yet answered.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Baffler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“An engrossing account of lethargy not as stasis but as potential and power. Through his thoughtful and generous analysis of art and everyday life, Hu reveals an original map of digital life, and a new lexicon for digital politics.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJames Bridle, author of \u003ci\u003eNew Dark Age\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWays of Being\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Tung-Hui Hu presents a compelling case to reclaim “lethargy” from the criticism of cultural apathy, characterizing it instead as a mirror to the dysfunctional dynamics in society.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Artist and Visiting Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at New York University Abu Dhabi\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Tung-Hui Hu provides deep insight into the mechanisms of the digital age while avoiding any hint of feel-good criticism. Poetic and incisive, \u003ci\u003eDigital Lethargy\u003c\/i\u003e masterfully diagnoses a disease of our time.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Christiane Paul, Professor of Media Studies, The New School, and Adjunct Curator of Digital Art, Whitney Museum of American Art\u003c\/b\u003eTung-Hui Hu is Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan. A former network engineer and a published poet, he is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Prehistory of the Cloud\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press), praised by the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e as “mesmerizing” and by the \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e as “witty, sharp and theoretically aware.” He was awarded the Rome Prize in Literature in 2022.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233086681317,"sku":"NP9780262047111","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262047111_53b8a18d-9d04-4b59-8adb-758222368ec4.jpg?v=1767725124","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/digital-lethargy-isbn-9780262047111","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}