“While we know a single-use plastic cup is harmful to the planet, fewer realise the environmental toll of five hours of Netflix”, observes Martina Skrubbeltrang Mahnke, one of the co-chairs of the newly formed TWG “Digital Technologies, Materiality, and the Environment”. Set to debut at the NordMedia25 conference in Odense next year, the group will explore the hidden costs of digital technologies – rising energy consumption, dwindling natural resources, and mounting e-waste – while addressing the pressing issue of social accountability in an era of rapid technological progress.
Anna Pacholczyk (AP): The discourse around datafication and digital platforms has long been preoccupied with the intangible – privacy, surveillance, and the flow of information. Yet with the rapid rise and development of AI, the material underpinnings of these systems – the resources they devour, the energy they drain, the waste they leave behind – are demanding greater scrutiny. The newly established Temporary Working Group (TWG) “Digital Technologies, Materiality, and the Environment” co-chaired by you brings these hidden costs into sharp focus. What overarching ambitions guide your TWG, and what critical questions do you aim to address as you challenge the conventional narratives of digital progress?
Martina Skrubbeltrang Mahnke (MSM): Yes, digital technologies and platforms have been widely discussed over the past decades, including recently in debates about banning social media for certain age groups. We aim to push these discussions further, focusing on the material and environmental implications. As digital technologies play a central role in contemporary societies, it is essential to examine their environmental underpinnings. For instance, many of us understand that using a single-use plastic cup harms the environment, but fewer are aware of the environmental impact of streaming five hours of Netflix after a night out. While these examples are straightforward, at NordMedia, we want to delve into the complexity of these issues. How do use and environmental materiality intersect? What governing models shape this landscape? How is power distributed? As a newly established group, we welcome diverse submissions and questions and look forward to learning from the work of others.
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen (SML): We are also interested in finding perspectives unique to media and communication scholarship to unpack the relations between digital media and the environment. These are complex questions addressed at the moment across fields from science and technology studies to engineering. But as media and communication scholars, perhaps we can introduce more holistic perspectives that look into media consumption habits, understanding the audience or scrutinising media industry business logics that drive unsustainable design and practice for digital media.
AP: Your TWG invites researchers working at the intersection of digital technologies and the environment with a specific focus on datafication and platform research, audience studies, organisational studies, media and communication research, and cultural anthropology. As you make your debut at NordMedia25, beyond academic contributors, what other voices are critical to these discussions and welcome to participate in the conversations fostered by your TWG at the conference in Denmark next year?
MSM: The TWG primarily targets an academic audience; however, we are also open to contributions from NGOs and other organisations working in this field. For me, it’s important to foster discussions on diverse issues rather than adhering to a fixed agenda. We are accepting workshop proposals, which provide opportunities for alternative formats and discussion. Most importantly, our goal is to inspire each other to reflect on environmental challenges – and, ideally, to explore actionable solutions.
SML: It would be great if NordMedia could also act as a space for impactful discussions for more than academics. Overall, there are not many NGOs talking about the question at the moment, nor is it broadly on the policy agenda either. Perhaps one key collaboration group we could reach through NordMedia is media industry actors. They are impactful players on the field, but sometimes quite shy to take responsible action.
AP: The NordMedia 2025 theme, ”Imagining Livable Futures”, calls on researchers to envision transformative alternatives. Building on the the previous question, for your TWG, how does this call could translate into tangible outcomes? What specific research directions or practical solutions do you hope could emerge from these inclusive discussions, and how might they reshape not only academic thinking but also influence policy and industry practices to create more sustainable technological futures?
MSM: Within the organising team, we’ve emphasised the importance of leaving ample room for discussions. We hope this approach will inspire future research agendas and foster collaborations that explore alternative futures. As digital technologies continue to evolve, we cannot remain confined to the status quo – we need to think differently, experiment, and ask uncomfortable questions. I believe this is a crucial starting point for envisioning and creating “livable futures”.
SML: Environmental consequences of digital media is definitely a topic that calls for transformative approaches. Research is a major way to put forth change in society by increasing awareness, helping to think about alternatives, and also concretely providing solutions or paths forward. Sustainability of digital media is something that needs public attention, but also industry action and regulation – which is difficult, as the current narratives of greener futures are heavily relying on digitalisation. Recent research has shown, however, that increasing digitalisation, along with the growing use of AI, is not a sustainable development. Like Martina pointed out with her example of the plastic cup, we need to find ways to introduce ideas of limits and sufficiency also to the consumption and design of digital media.
More information about the TWG can be found here. The group is now accepting all submission types for the NordMedia25 conference and further encourages researchers to propose alternative formats such as workshops, Bluesky sessions, panels, roundtable discussions, and other innovative approaches that foster dialogue, discussion, and engagement. The abstract submission deadline is 28 February. The call for submissions can be found here.
About the NordMedia Conference
The NordMedia25 conference is set to take place on 13–15 August 2025, with a pre-conference for doctoral students scheduled for 12 August.
This conference is being co-hosted by Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). There will be a local organising committee and a Nordic academic committee that consists of the representatives of the national research associations from Sweden (FSMK), Finland (Mevi), Norway (NML), and Denmark (SmiD), and Nordicom.
NordMedia is a biennial conference for Nordic media and communication researchers organised by the national Nordic media researcher associations together with Nordicom. It was organised for the first time in 1973.
For information about NordMedia25 go to: https://nordmedianetwork.org/nordmedia-conference-2025/
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