Restoring Civic Health in a Culture of Distance: Media and the Challenge of Proximal Belonging

This paper explores the concepts of distance and proximity as they relate to daily civic life. The current digital moment necessitates an understanding of the relationship between our digital technologies and our lived environments. This essay used the frame of distance and proximity to argue that our digital realities have cultivated distance between individuals and the communities they rely on for daily life. From extractive news infrastructures, to local issues mediated by social networks, the current digital landscape extracts our time and capacity to embrace the “rigors of the human condition” with fleeting and transactional digital engagements. The paper evokes the idea of restorative civic practices that use proximity to enable caring and agency for stronger engagement in daily civic life.