The manners of digital distraction: Competing modes of attention and visual citizenship in Bangkok

Abstract

This paper is a photographic essay focusing on how people navigate the demands of visual citizenship in both virtual and physical spaces. It posits that theories of digital attention often overlook the bodily and specific material worlds where digital attention and distraction occur. Using photos and ethnographic data from public gatherings in Bangkok, Thailand, following the death of King Bhumibol, the paper examines how moral citizenship practices in virtual communities both intersect with and diverge from public manners of the body. The paper argues that while virtual citizenship practices may sometimes take precedence over in-person social practice, enduring manners and modes of attention in public urban spaces nonetheless shape and inform online citizenship behaviors. The paper argues scholars of visual nationalism and digital attention should focus more on physical modes of attention, including rituals and manners expressed through the body.