The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media [Hardcover]

Ilana Gershon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2010

A few generations ago, college students showed their romantic commitments by exchanging special objects: rings, pins, varsity letter jackets. Pins and rings were handy, telling everyone in local communities that you were spoken for, and when you broke up, the absence of a ring let everyone know you were available again. Is being Facebook official really more complicated, or are status updates just a new version of these old tokens? Many people are now fascinated by how new media has affected the intricacies of relationships and their dissolution. People often talk about Facebook and Twitter as platforms that have led to a seismic shift in transparency and (over)sharing. What are the new rules for breaking up? These rules are argued over and mocked in venues from the New York Times to lamebook.com, but well-thought-out and informed considerations of the topic are rare. Ilana Gershon was intrigued by the degree to which her students used new media to communicate important romantic informationsuch as its over. She decided to get to the bottom of the matter by interviewing seventy-two people about how they use Skype, texting, voice mail, instant messaging, Facebook, and cream stationery to end relationships. She opens up the world of romance as it is conducted in a digital milieu, offering insights into the ways in which different media influence behavior, beliefs, and social mores. Above all, this full-fledged ethnography of Facebook and other new tools is about technology and communication, but it also tells the reader a great deal about what college students expect from each other when breaking upand from their friends who are the spectators or witnesses to the ebb and flow of their relationships. The Breakup 2.0 is accessible and riveting.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her surprisingly gripping first book, Gershon argues that Facebook and other forms of new media social networking have radically changed the playing field of accepted interactions. Generations navigate these new forms differently and a whole new set of norms is being developed to judge behavior. No subject has dominated the discussion more than the ways in which we handle romantic relationships: when they begin, when to go public, and how to bring them to an end. Do people really break up via text message? The answer is yes, and Gershon asserts that in this case "the medium is at odds with the message." A professor of communications, the author takes a distinctly academic approach, lending legitimacy to what might otherwise be easily dismissed. She understands how new media shapes social communications and addresses its constant evolution. Readers interested in communication theory and new media evolution will appreciate the author's excellent balance of analysis, anecdote, and readability. While some of her insights will undoubtedly be dated the moment this book hits the shelves, her examination will stand as an important time capsule in a constantly-evolving world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

The Breakup 2.0 is intriguing and illuminating. By exploring how college students use Facebook, cell phones, and IM, Gershon deepens our understanding of these media, of young people's lives, and of our evolving definitions of public and private. It's an original and enlightening book.Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University, author of You Just Don't Understand and You Were Always Mom's Favorite!

""The Breakup 2.0 is a slick, sharp, highly intelligent encounter with the most important emerging phenomenon of the twenty-first century."" Allucquére Rosanne Stone, ACTLab, University of Texas at AustinThe Breakup 2.0 is a fascinating and thoroughly researched anthropological account of how Facebook, instant messaging, and texting reformat the media ecologies within which todays friendships and romantic relationships function and fracture. There is nothing virtual, Ilana Gershon shows, about these online arenas. Across a wide range of human relations, the form of interaction turns out to be just as crucial as its content. --Stefan Helmreich, MIT

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press; First edition (July 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080144859X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801448591
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > Culture
  • #62 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Web 2.0

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really fun book--about breakups!, August 21, 2010

By 

Theo Smith "Theo" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media (Hardcover)

Breakup 2.0 is based on a brilliant insight: if you want to look at how the form of the message matters, look at the one situation where the content can't matter at all. What, after all, is the satisfactory answer to, "Why are you breaking up with me?"
Gershon manages to take a scholarly and thought-provoking approach to the problems involved with using new technologies, and, at the same time, provide a fun, hip, and humorous look at the processes of connection and disconnection. Having been unpleasantly dumped (hopefully) more than my fair share of times, I was reluctant to pick up this book. But it is so funny and compassionate that you will find yourself laughing and taking comfort much more than you will find yourself cringing. In fact, off hand, I don't think I found a single cringe-worthy moment.
What I did find was charming writing (facebook stalking provides little "potato chips" of information--small, bad for you, AND unsatisfying), and interesting insights into the changing face of technology. Did you know that there was once a debate over whether to answer the telephone with "Hello" or "Ahoy!"? Or that young people think that only old people write personal emails? That you are not the only one who has terrible spelling in emails and why? That people are creating fake facebook profiles to stalk each other and how to spot them?
What I loved most about this book, however, were the excerpts from interviews with college students, who are much kinder, more thoughtful, and more ethical than I would have given them credit for. Because, after all, I'm old, send personal emails, and don't know how to text.
You won't know what it all means once you've read Breakup 2.0, but you'll have a wonderful time trying to figure it out. And you'll have a better-examined life as you interact with new technologies, which you will have to do more and more. And more. UR. Sorry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening study of contemporary mores, December 6, 2010

By 

Stuart Burrows - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media (Hardcover)

Through a series of entertaining and revealing interviews, mostly with college students, The Breakup 2.0 examines how new technologies are changing not only romantic relationships but the ways people end those relationships. At a moment when not everyone uses the same media and understands the media they use in different ways, Gershon explores the various ethical dilemmas which arise when people break-up over a medium rather than face-to-face. In the process Gershon makes a number of fascinating points, including the fact that people are beginning to reimagine what counts as a medium--she notes that some of interviewees are starting to describe face-to-face interaction as a medium--and that public speech is becoming less about anonymity and more about accessibility.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 12, 2010

By 

AsiaPloy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media (Hardcover)

I decided to buy this book becuase I have recoomendation from my professor to apply this book to my thesis topic. I have obtain a lot of knowledge from this book. I would like to recommend others to buy this book if you interested in New Media since you will gain a lot of valua knowledge from this!!!