The Amazing Impossibilities of Technology: Factors that Inhibit Participation in Skype™ Based Self-Help Groups

A project in Norway attempting to start self-help groups based on Internet video conferencing experienced severe problems in recruiting participants. The article discusses how to interpret the project and compares it to other projects and trials. Theoretical perspectives on self-help and technology in a late modern context contribute to a tentative model of motivation for getting involved in Electronic Self-help Groups (ESGs). Anthony Giddens' contribution on the high modern society is central to our model of motivation. Also, the relationship between technology and social practice discussed by Ian Hutchby plays an important role. Both constrainers and enablers of such practices are considered in the theoretical model. Using this model of motivation, five factors are suggested which may either enable or constrain engagement. These factors are 1) synchronicity, 2) identification, 3) specified diagnosis, 4) organizational trust and 5) accessibility.