Within digital media scholarship, there are significant bodies of literature investigating forced disconnection (‘digital exclusion’) and voluntary disconnection (‘digital disconnection’) but there is little research addressing entanglements between them. This article explores how bringing together these bodies of literature through an empirical study offers new pathways and considerations for both areas. In doing so, we draw on qualitative data about the forms of disconnection experienced, negotiated, and enacted by low-income families in regional Australia before and during their participation in a digital inclusion initiative that provided them with Internet connections and laptops. We argue that their experiences illustrate the complex interplay of voluntary and involuntary factors that shape socially situated practices of disconnection. We also identify further implications for inclusion and disconnection research, including the need to recognise that within digital inclusion initiatives, participants’ non-use of provided technologies does not necessarily indicate failure but may instead be a positive outcome.

中文翻译：

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“购买路由器”：低收入家庭如何体验、协商和实施数字断开/连接

在数字媒体学术领域，有大量文献研究强制断开（“数字排斥”）和自愿断开（“数字断开”），但很少有研究解决它们之间的纠葛。本文探讨了如何通过实证研究将这些文献汇集在一起​​，为这两个领域提供新的途径和考虑。在此过程中，我们利用了澳大利亚地区低收入家庭在参与数字包容性倡议之前和期间经历、协商和实施的断网形式的定性数据，该倡议为他们提供了互联网连接和笔记本电脑。我们认为，他们的经历说明了自愿和非自愿因素之间复杂的相互作用，这些因素塑造了社会情境中的脱节行为。我们还确定了对包容性和脱节研究的进一步影响，包括需要认识到，在数字包容性举措中，参与者不使用所提供的技术并不一定意味着失败，而可能是一个积极的结果。