Pocket Preppers
Amelia Acker, Daniel Carter · 2018
Preppers are individuals who gather and stock supplies, food, and tools in anticipation of disasters or emergencies. In the process of making themselves ready for disaster, many preppers have built community on social networking sites and online platforms such as Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube and subject specific bulletin boards. This paper presents findings from a study of preppers' #EDC ("everyday carry") pocket dump photographs posted to Instagram, a mobile social media platform that allows users to post photographs, comment, tag, and follow users in the social network. Amongst other subcultures of consumption and display, preppers' pocket dumps are a form of self-representation and an emerging personal media genre on social media. We argue that preppers' perceptions of future disaster and performances of preparedness on visual social media extend current social media research on self-representation practices, consumption of objects, and personal photography in surprising and meaningful ways.