It’s just that sudden feeling of being transported: Music as a digital possession after a romantic relationship ends

Patel, Katha V.; Williams, Martia N.; Adams, Janai Mychelle; Pinter, Anthony T.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117378 Copy

Description

Title

It’s just that sudden feeling of being transported: Music as a digital possession after a romantic relationship ends

Author(s)

• Patel, Katha V.
• Williams, Martia N.
• Adams, Janai Mychelle
• Pinter, Anthony T.

Issue Date

2023-03-13

Keyword(s)

• Music
• Emotion
• Relationship dissolution and Life transitions literature review

Abstract

After experiencing the break-up of a romantic relationship, people face decisions about what to do with the datafied representations of their lost relationships. Prior work in human-computer interaction (HCI) has focused on how to better design features on social media sites (SMSs) to support that data management. However, these designs do not offer users a way of managing other types of possessions that might be indicative of the relationship. For example, popular media, like music, can act as proxies for the relationship or ex-partner – reminding someone of what they have lost. To begin addressing this, we present findings from a literature review of work focused on the relationship between music, emotion, and memory. We identify three themes in this body of litera- ture: the internal and external locus of emotion in music, using music to hedonically shift one’s emotions, and the personal connection to music many people have. From these thematic findings, we argue for consider- ing other types of digital possessions when studying life transitions like a romantic relationship break-up.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2023 Proceedings

Type of Resource

• Other
• text

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117378

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 is held by Katha V. Patel, Martia N. Williams, Janai Mychelle Adams, and Anthony T. Pinter. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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