Proximity at a distance? Mapping out heterogeneous associations between technology, counselling and ’intimate’ communication

Abstract

Understanding what it means to be intimate with another person requires an evaluation of the concepts of connectedness and proximity, as well as an insight into the emotional qualities we ascribe to different ways of communicating. Living in a digital era where ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and humans are interrelated in work life, it becomes relevant to discuss how new technologies develop and alter existing work life practices. The aim of this article is to gain a deeper insight into the dynamics, conditions and issues related to work practices in online counselling, and how the notion of proximity can be associated with this specific way of communicating. The article is centred on a minor interview-based case study conducted in 2010 among online counsellors at the suicide preventive organisation ’Livslinien’, approaching the question: What happens to communication when it abandons bodily presence and simultaneity? We explore this question in the article from the perspective of Actor Network Theory (ANT), as it allow us to challenge and reconceptualise our everyday life understanding of what seems like neutral objects, namely technologies, and to emphasise ways in which they perform and take part in constructing practices. Approaching the actor-network activity in an online counselling session, it becomes evident that it entails more than just a counsellor and a user. Through our analysis, we locate heterogeneous actors in a multiple hybrid network, mixed up in time and space. As the case study takes point of departure in experiences of the counsellors, this article, contrary to many other ANT-analyses, revolves around immaterial, emotional and conceptual actors, rather than the connectedness between (strictly) physical ‘things’. This reveals a normative idealisation of bodily interaction that seems to construct (experienced) insufficiencies in practices of online counselling. The article argues that counselling must be understood as heterogeneous situated practices that unfold in a variety of ways. It emphasises that proximity reveals itself as a fluid conception, taking place in on-line counselling despite of, and as an effect of, distance and technology.