Digital platforms and speed-based competition: The case of secondhand clothing

Abstract

Recent research studies have explored what digital platforms do as well as the behaviour they generate among users. This article builds on the existing literature by studying how P2P digital platforms are speeding up market activities and how this acceleration is shaping inter-user relationships. A qualitative ethnographic study was conducted on the secondhand clothing market from 2013 to 2020. Drawing on social acceleration theory, we show how the affordances of digital platforms encourage an acceleration in the pace of life, an acceleration in the renewal of items owned, and a technical acceleration across multiple domains. These accelerations are inciting speed-based competition between users, who must now be more responsive, more trend-conscious, and more savvy than others. The platforms also constitute a particular digital space that invites us to rethink the notion of alienation in various forms, specifically spatial and temporal alienation. In addition to these theoretical contributions, this research offers societal insights that will help users become more aware of the scale of their sped-up activities on digital platforms.