Building a digital society: what does it bring?
A digital society is a society in which everything runs on digital technology, including the rapid development of contemporary digital technologies such as digitization, networking, big data, artificial intelligence, and the widespread use of digital media. Digitalization has affected almost all aspects of humanity and its world, whether it is the workplace, music, or anything that is used daily. With the help of digitalization, transport, travel, and communication systems have become more efficient. However, in the context of digitalization, not only does it bring convenience, but it also brings risks.
Convenience
Giving people a voice and facilitating social interaction
Digital media can break the boundaries of time and distance and connect people in ways that have never been possible before. As mentioned in Lesson 2, in a digital society we can use digital media to interact with people. In today’s digital context, influential social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Blogger have emerged. Almost all people aged 13 to 64 have a Facebook account and, according to Statista, Facebook has around 2.93 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2022.
“Digital media makes people feel like they can do something about what’s going on in the outside world.”
During Covid-19, people were trapped in their homes and forbidden from non-essential travel. Digital media was very important during this period. Thanks to the use of digital media, people were able to connect with family and friends online and could do their work and study needs online. In addition, people report that posting content on media such as Facebook and TikTok can be used as a painkiller against isolation, loneliness, and boredom. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Centre for Media Psychology Research, says: “Digital media not only helps to reduce feelings of isolation but can also increase feelings of psychological comfort.”
Digital media enhances the sharing of information around the world, giving people greater access to facts, figures, statistics, and so on so that this information can be disseminated more quickly. Statistically, thanks to the ease with which information can be shared through digital media channels, the public can quickly identify social injustices, and as a result, incidents of injustice, such as the exploitation of workers, have been greatly reduced.
Bringing new life to the world of work
“We are seeing jobs in the freelance and “retail” economy that we would not have seen 15 to 20 years ago…”
Digital media has had a profound impact on the corporate recruitment process. Indeed and Linkedln Recruiter is two recruitment platforms that are used for talent acquisition and strategy. This allows companies to select the best candidates for their careers online, in real-time, through the intelligent filters provided by the recruitment platforms. According to CareerBuilder’s Social Media Recruiting Survey, 70% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates. This greatly increases the flexibility of the recruitment process for both candidates and companies.
In addition to this, the development of digital media has had a huge impact on the retail industry. From a time when products could only be purchased from physical shops, it is now easy to shop online. People can even buy their favorite products directly from ‘shopping posts’ on Instagram, where they share photos daily. According to a Forbes study, 78% of consumers’ purchases are influenced by social media posts. And according to Statista, by 2020, more than 2 billion people will buy goods or services online and global e-tailing will be worth more than $4.2 trillion.
Risks
Social media addiction
In line with course 3, the dangers of using the Internet have emerged along with the increase in the number of Internet users… Addiction to mobile devices, and social networking sites such as Facebook and TikTok is becoming more and more common in our lives today. At a party or any casual gathering, you will see almost everyone busy with their phones. Overuse can lead to withdrawal symptoms, such as anger, stress, and depression when you can’t access the internet. These emotions can make us overly dependent on the internet.
According to statistics, in 2022, around 3.96 billion people will be using social media, with 11 people starting to use social media every second. Spending a lot of time on social media means less time to devote to everyday work and study, which can lead to lower grades or poor performance at work. People use social media most frequently before bedtime, and excessive use of social media before bedtime can lead to disrupted sleep patterns. Sleep deprivation in turn can damage mental and physical health to varying degrees.
Cyberbullying, anxiety
With the vast majority of teenagers spending hours online and the convenience of digital media, there is a significant amount of hate speech, ‘trolling’, and cyberbullying. According to a global survey by Vodafone, 43% of teens believe cyberbullying is a bigger problem than drug use. 41% say cyberbullying makes them feel depressed or helpless. 38% say they haven’t told their parents or guardians because they are ashamed (32%), afraid of their parents getting involved (40%), or worried about what their parents might do (36%).
Cyberbullying can cause distress and can exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and isolation in young people. For example, in a 2018 study, children aged 14 to 17 who used social media for seven hours a day were more than twice as likely as the general population to be diagnosed with depression and treated by a mental health professional. Worse still, cyberbullying has led to several high-profile teenage suicides. To combat cyberbullying, several platforms have developed policies and reporting platforms. Instagram, for example, has a page that allows people to report any fraudulent, bullying behavior.
Conclusion
The digital society has connected people in an unprecedented way, providing a platform for people to release stress and speak out for social justice. In addition, it has transformed the way jobs are recruited and has invigorated e-commerce. However, the overuse of digital media has also led to an over-dependence on the internet and the associated mental and physical health problems in the real world. Worse still, there is cyberbullying among young people. Therefore, to properly grasp the future of the digital society, we must adopt strategies to address the problems that occur in real-time and that we are aware of the time and ethics of the Internet.
Reflection
The Challenge
Before this course, I had never expressed my views in a blog format and a more informal tone than in an article. The new style and format of writing were very challenging for me. The course is taught in a new way, not in person but an asynchronous learning format. This made me very nervous at first and the new style of teaching made me feel very unsure if I would be able to grasp the course well.
Improvements
As a double module student in Economics and Sociology, I am very interested in learning about interdisciplinary. The Digital Society course has greatly broadened my horizons in terms of understanding that people and people and people and data are all connected in a digital society. This has enabled me to look beyond a single subject area and take a more holistic view of society as a whole. In addition, the combination of weekly learning and regular assignments in the Digital Society course has given me the ability to study independently in addition to face-to-face lectures. Through the independent study of the course and learning how to write on Medium, I have learned skills such as how to insert blog-style images and correctly add references to posts. This course has given me the ability to write and publish proficiently on Medium. In the process, I learned the ability to protect intellectual property through attribution and proper citation patterns.
I have also developed the ability to think critically depending on the subject matter of the course. For example, in the case of the Internet, I learned that it is very two-sided. Looking at it from different perspectives gives a fuller picture of the opportunities and challenges that exist alongside it. In addition to this, I was very interested in the themes of the individual, identity and ethics, and employability in the digital future. I realize that we need to not only acquire more skills to improve our employability, but also to use the power of digital media to make ourselves more competitive in the world of work. In addition, in the process, it is essential to be aware of our identity, be ethical, and regulate our behavior on the Internet.
Applications
Through writing on Medium, I have come to love the act of writing in a blog-style to analyze ideas. After each post on Medium, I write a new post on the Chinese social media “Weibo” and “Xiaohongshu” and gain a certain number of “followers”. . In the process, I have acquired the ability to use digital media to interact with people, share information and communicate. This ability and informal writing training have opened up many possibilities for my future career and the opportunity to work in the social media industry in the future.
