Fractal Time in the Digital World (of Instagram)

Abstract This article introduces the phenomenon of fractal time in the digital world of social media, experienced by the researcher as a continual series of instantaneous overlapping presents. Building on the established anthropological notion of chronologies, multiple presents experienced in the digital landscape will be conceptualised as one infinite kaleidoscopic simultaneous set of presents—allowing the digital landscape to be a place where infinite potentialities can occur simultaneously. This cyclical, yet amorphous sensation of temporality, experienced by users of social media, will form the basis for an understanding of fractal time and will lead to a discussion of self-making, temporal-manipulation and imagined spaces. Fundamentally, this will allow a reassessment of how notions of time and the present can be understood in a digital age.