Media Love

Love is all around. This may be somewhat of a cliché, and like all platitudes contains a kernel of truth. Our relations with media are profoundly personal, and this intimacy plays a powerful role in explaining the significance of media and communication in society and in everyday life. However, love as a concept or driving force in the mutual shaping of media, society and the day-to-day tends to be rarely acknowledged in media and (mass) communication scholarship – and when it does, it is often seen as a problem rather than as a natural, let alone helpful phenomenon. In this essay, a theory of ‘media love’ is proposed in recognition of its profundity, particularly in terms of both the mediation and mediatization of love as distinct processes changing the role and meaning of media in society and everyday life. In conclusion, the implications of love for the development of media and information literacy are discussed.