Mapping the discourse on digital disconnection A computational analysis on #disconnection Instagram posts from 2018 to 2023

Digital disconnection—the deliberate and temporal nonuse of digital media—is gaining traction as a response to the challenges of permanent connectivity in digital society. We examined the discourse on digital disconnection on Instagram using posts tagged with #disconnection from 2018 to 2023, encompassing the significant period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing from a dataset of 38,170 posts on digital disconnection and using a data-driven method of topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) based on the hashtags, we identified five topics in the social media discourse around digital disconnection. The topics highlight how disconnection is negotiated as a pathway to authentic experiences in connection with the world outside and with oneself.