“I Refuse to Rush” A Study of How Online Communities Construct and Negotiate the Meaning of Slow Living

Sammanfattning

Purpose: This study explores how slow living is given meaning within online communities. It focuses on how people understand slow living in relation to everyday experiences of time pressure, digital distraction, and the feeling of constantly needing to keep up. Research question: How do online communities construct and negotiate the meaning of slow living in relation to the pressures of accelerated everyday life? Theoretical framework: The study is informed by theories of social acceleration, consumer identity projects, the extended self, consumer resistance, myth-making, and disconnectivity. These perspectives are used to understand why slow living becomes appealing, how it is made visible through routines and objects, and why its meaning often remains unstable when it is shared and discussed online. Methodology: This study adopts a qualitative, dual-method research design combining netnography and semi-structured interviews. The netnographic data collection examined slow living content and discussions on TikTok, while six semi-structured interviews provided deeper insights into how individuals interpret and relate to slow living in everyday life. Findings: The findings show that slow living is not understood as a fixed lifestyle but as an ongoing process of negotiation. Participants framed it as a response to acceleration, digital fatigue, and the pressures of everyday life, while online communities played a central role in constructing its meaning. Discussions frequently revolved around authenticity and accessibility, particularly when slow living appeared as curated social media content. Rather than representing a complete escape from acceleration, slow living emerged as a form of everyday consumer resistance in which participants created temporary pockets of escape before repeatedly re-entering the conditions they sought relief from. Contributions: The study contributes theoretically by developing a process model of how slow living is constructed and negotiated within online communities. While grounded in slow living, the model provides a framework for understanding how lifestyle trends more broadly are collectively shaped and sustained through social media. Additionally, it contributes managerially by showing how social media influences consumers' perceptions of desirable ways of living, highlighting its role in shaping everyday values and aspirations beyond purchasing decisions. Keywords: Slow Living, Social Acceleration, Consumer Culture, Consumer Resistance, Disconnectivity, Pockets of Escape Word Count: 24952