Reclaiming presence: An anthropological study of digital disconnection and meaning-making

Author

• Leslie De PazFollow

Graduation Date

Summer 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in Applied Anthropology

Committee Chair Name

Dara Adams

Committee Chair Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Gordon Ulmer

Second Committee Member Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Third Committee Member Name

Jason Valdez

Third Committee Member Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Applied anthropology, Digital anthropology, Social media, Digital cultures, Algorithms, AI, TikTok, Doomscrolling, Digital addiction, Digital disconnection, Platforms, User experience, User research, Human-computer interaction

Subject Categories

Anthropology

Abstract

Human attention is increasingly at risk in an unregulated digital ecosystem where overconsumption shapes neurological function, social interaction, and the ways people make meaning of everyday life. Dominant discourse around digital overuse tends to medicalize the problem, framing it as individual addiction or clinical dysfunction. In this thesis, I argue that such framing obscures what a cultural phenomenon is fundamentally, one in which people are actively questioning their relationship with technology, building awareness, and developing practices that help them slow down and reclaim agency within algorithmically mediated environments. This study draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z and millennial participants, supplemented by six months of digital ethnography conducted on TikTok. Three themes emerged from thematic analysis using in vivo, inductive, and deductive coding in MAXQDA. The first theme, Engineered Dependency, examines how participants understood digital dependency as a structural condition rooted in attention capitalism and neurological exploitation. The second theme, The Paradox of Presence, explores how COVID-19 intensified digital reliance while simultaneously revealing its costs to human connection. The third theme, Rituals of Resistance, documents the embodied, spiritual, and collective practices participants developed to recalibrate their relationship with technology. The central finding of this study is that participants were seeking reconnection, to their bodies, nature, spirituality, and community, rather than disconnection from technology. This reveals a profound cultural desire to remain intentionally human in the digital age and highlights the unique role of anthropology in helping us understand the evolving relationship between humans and technology.

Citation Style

APA

Recommended Citation

De Paz, Leslie, "Reclaiming presence: An anthropological study of digital disconnection and meaning-making" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2595.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2595