'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram

Since the mid-nineteenth century Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and its subsequent revivals, craft has been positioned in opposition to new technologies. Yet, increasingly people learn, share, produce, and consume crafts through engagements online. This article discusses the relationship betwee...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: O'Brien, C
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
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author O'Brien, C
author_facet O'Brien, C
author_sort O'Brien, C
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description Since the mid-nineteenth century Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and its subsequent revivals, craft has been positioned in opposition to new technologies. Yet, increasingly people learn, share, produce, and consume crafts through engagements online. This article discusses the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and the social media site Instagram in the context of digital ethnographic research with British potters during the COVID-19 pandemic. When physical access to spaces such as studios was limited, these potters turned to digital and social media to learn new skills and connect with others from within their own homes. Central to this article is the dissonance between my participants’ belief that pottery offered them an escape from their phones, yet simultaneously, much of their enjoyment of pottery came from their participation in online spaces, particularly Instagram. The eudemonic wellbeing impacts generated through their engagements with pottery and the online resources and communities associated with it, concern, 1) satisfying work: self-fulfilment and empowerment, and 2) crafting the self: identity, belonging, and social connectedness, as well as a discussion of the stress and negative consequences engagements with social media brought about for several of my participants.
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spelling oxford-uuid:83491539-e40f-4cb8-bfe0-9ca75bdcfbf22024-01-24T09:27:11Z'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:83491539-e40f-4cb8-bfe0-9ca75bdcfbf2EnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor & Francis2023O'Brien, CSince the mid-nineteenth century Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and its subsequent revivals, craft has been positioned in opposition to new technologies. Yet, increasingly people learn, share, produce, and consume crafts through engagements online. This article discusses the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and the social media site Instagram in the context of digital ethnographic research with British potters during the COVID-19 pandemic. When physical access to spaces such as studios was limited, these potters turned to digital and social media to learn new skills and connect with others from within their own homes. Central to this article is the dissonance between my participants’ belief that pottery offered them an escape from their phones, yet simultaneously, much of their enjoyment of pottery came from their participation in online spaces, particularly Instagram. The eudemonic wellbeing impacts generated through their engagements with pottery and the online resources and communities associated with it, concern, 1) satisfying work: self-fulfilment and empowerment, and 2) crafting the self: identity, belonging, and social connectedness, as well as a discussion of the stress and negative consequences engagements with social media brought about for several of my participants.
spellingShingle O'Brien, C
'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title 'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title_full 'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title_fullStr 'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title_full_unstemmed 'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title_short 'It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram
title_sort it s just nice not to be on screens exploring the relationship between pottery making eudemonic wellbeing and instagram
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