I want to live, so I am dying online…
For a lot, social interactions represent life, while it has been more than a year since we were restricted to do so, we tried a substitute…
We can all agree 2020 will be considered in the future as a turning point for business. Covid-19 accelerated digitalization for better and for worse. With many countries restricting movement and exchanges, the Internet took another step forward in our life. Our screen time rate globally increased, introducing work, school, and activities into our home through the Internet. Thus, making our eyes focus most of the time on a screen.
Technology is great and it proposes solutions to stay connected and keep our society active. But sometimes it could be overwhelming. The ones that were not or hardly ever into it, can feel a gap between them and the rest of the community as they struggle to adapt and adopt this new way of living. Some cannot breathe since all their activities are occurring in the same place. Medical studies are pointing the danger of not moving enough and the consequences on health with a possible increase of diabetes, cancer, and major mental illness.
Throughout history, Humans have developed different addictions, and have always found new ones to compete with one another. Furthermore, dependencies can easily be completed with another one. It is not that I am a communist, but the Capitalist model prompted the development of new addictions together with consumption growth, and new businesses emergence. Some firms understood how addictions can be tricked, and how they can help to attract and gain more customers. Today our biggest addiction might be our screens.
From televisions to computers, now we all have a screen in our pocket or even on our wrist. Although we know it is bad, but it is hard to resist updating our Instagram feed, isn’t it? As an example, but certainly, not as a role model, while I am writing this article, I have been checking my phone without any reason. As a matter of fact, I can sometimes imagine and feel my phone vibrate when it did not. I might be addicted to it. With the ongoing COVID pandemic, I spend more time online, with my friends playing video games or with my colleagues during a virtual coffee chat while we are taking a break from our job which is filled with an impressive amount of conference calls. We are living in a digital world and we are forced to be part of it during this hard period. For children, it might cause trouble to be exposed this soon to screens while for adults, notifications can drive us crazy (cf. Jeff Orlowski’s The Social Dilemma on Netflix).
So why not just take a break?
You can tell me that you need your job, and you cannot change the current situation. I cannot disagree. You can also tell me social networks are inevitable for doing business nowadays. Here I would argue with you. During the beginning of this new year, the world-famous fashion brand Bottega Venetta decided to go against the flow, or in more appropriate words, to pull back from the digital world. Guided by designer Daniel Lee, the brand closed its social media accounts from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A surprising move from the brand as they are the first in their field to do so. Moreover, when most fashion companies either use social networks to promote themselves or to keep the customer closer to them. For example, Instagram can be considered as the new storefront of a brand.
Daniel Lee has never been on Instagram and has never hidden that he understands the benefit of social networks but can see the negative aspect too. During the Summer Spring ’21 podium, although most of the brands’ record in live or shared videos of the show, the British designer forbade his audience to film anything. “The quiet Radical”, as the British magazine Vogue nicknamed him, cut off the Kering’s brand from the webs of social networks, and no one would have imagined it before the end of 2020.
What does it mean for businesses?
At a time where brands focus their strategy online, others criticize this digitalization, and some refute it. When people are raising awareness about global warming, they also underline the negative effects of our Internet consumption on the environment. People denounce the omnipresence of data in our lives which implies less intimacy as most businesses are seeing a new lever to improve their sales.
If a huge brand like Bottega Venetta can step back from this online presence. it might develop a new mindset in businesses, a more ecological-friendly and responsible conscious. Let us not forget that fashion still is a part of art, where demands can enhance business as it reflects value for a brand. It might not be as easy for little actors that have no “influence” (by influence I mean not such a large audience as Bottega Venetta). However, this operation from the Italian/French Maison could be the first step into a new revolution in the digital world of business.
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminate the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.
