Restoring Civic Health in a Culture of Distance

Media and the Challenge of Proximal Belonging

Bibliographic Data

ID3759107
AuthorsPaul Mihailidis (0000-0001-7019-4785, Emerson College, Boston, MA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Publication date2025-08-21
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642251357689
OpenAlexW4413440496
LanguageEN
References cited18

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

Civic culture · Criminology · Democracy · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Gender Studies · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Health disparities and outcomes · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access