The purpose of this ethnographic study is to examine how mediatization affects urban life in the city of Malmö, with particular emphasis aspects of temporality.  

The object of study are the temporal power-relations and linear rhythms, such as patterns of work and consumption which are engendered by the mediatization of urban space.  

The fieldwork in this inquiry was conducted in the city center of Malmö  as well as in the districts of “Seved”, “Frihamnen” and “Möllevången”. The study also includes a reflexive component that relates the author’s own experience of wearing a smart watch for the duration of four years.  

The most significant finding in this ethnography is that mediatization turns spatiality and temporality into abstractions and into sources of conflict. This in turn creates a new type of linear speculative rhythms which are unstable, lacking in chronological order and that exist in a constant state of change. This gives rise to a transformation whereby every place can potentially be turned into every other place and every point in time can be turned into every other. The outcomes of conflicts in this process are determined by the respective power relations and positions held by the parties involved in every respective situation.   

This ethnography provides a temporal perspective on mediatization and contributes to improving an understanding of the temporal aspects of the society in which we live.