#delhimetro on Instagram: Digital Media and Mobility Practices before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

India has the highest number of Instagram users in the world. This article examines Instagram, the mobility, and the digital media practices of Delhi Metro commuters before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, it looks at their photography of everyday lived experiences, their mediated interactions with one another, and the visible-invisible infrastructure in the city. It draws attention to the complexity of digital production, personal archiving, and circulation networks at play. Foregrounding the changing ‘geographies of social media’, a qualitative, digital ethnographic approach analyses these images’ visual, social, and contextual aspects. Also, a range of convergent practices related to individuals, places, and socio-cultural-political-economic-technological realities influence the images. Eventually, a narrative emerges on how these metro travellers inhabit offline and online public spaces, exchange cultural capital, and perform the affective, mediated negotiation of the city.