Digital Society — The New Era
Society from this point onwards will never not be digital. Think about that for a second. What’s the need of walking to the shop 5 minutes down the road when you can get it delivered to your door? Your friends knocking on your door to play out, opening the mailbox and seeing a postcard from a relative in a different country, buying the newspaper to see the daily reports of the day…things that are slowly becoming of the past. It is estimated that 58.4% of the world’s population uses social media, more than half of the worlds population.
From casually telling everyone they’re “having a good day :)” on Facebook to making people become “influencers”, social interaction has evolved dramatically. However, is it all really bad? Despite receiving a postcard being a distant memory, is it not better being able to physically video call a someone who does not live near? Let’s dwell on the implications of living in a such a digitalised world and whether we should be encouraged on a brighter future or are the best of times in the past…
Your opinion is valid…most of the time.
One thing that social communications has allowed is for people to express their opinions freely. Twitter, everyone’s favourite online diary is to host 500 million tweets per day. It allows for people to reach a wider audience and can make an individual feel as if their opinions and thoughts are being heard. This can be in a kind hearted manner as it could be positive thoughts of encouragement, motivation or educating others on a subject. However, not everyone has good intentions and the ability to stop themselves putting out hateful messages.
The famous Euro 2020 was a great triumph for the England National team who merely missed out on winning the competition, it was an occasion that brought the country together. Nevertheless, it was also a time that showed how divided the nation is as Twitter released that it deleted up to 2000 tweets that contained racist abuse to the players. Freedom of speech is welcome, discriminating against others is not. Are social media companies doing enough to tackle this? A great of the game, Thierry Henry doesn’t think so and deleted all his social media accounts in protest of companies not doing enough to combat abuse and Gareth Southgate his players to do the same.
Big Brother
The city life, high-rise buildings, loud noises, constant events…some to peoples taste, some not. The advancements of technology are sweeping through the world’s biggest cities to create a more sustainable way of living in all areas of life. The UN have predicted that 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities and urban areas by 2050. Therefore, it’s imperative that the science and technology allows us to adapt to new ways of living for a eco friendly future. Crime will always be a part of life in big cities, however with the help of modern technologies it will be easier to capture the perpetrators. Tech company Huawei have been in the forefront of the smart city market, they have claimed to built more than 160 Smart Cities in over 100 countries and regions around the globe. They have developed CCTV technology to collect data that is sold to governments with the aim of making cities safer. This is a positive, right?…but which data is actually being collected and sold to the government?
“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
— George Orwell, 1984
It can be suspected that smart cities are proving George Orwells 1984 vision correct, are ordinary citizens constantly under big brothers watch? A new argument is forming whether we can trust the technologies the government force upon our way of living.
AI take over whilst I relax…
Despite data privacy control being a huge discussion in the development of smart cities, I believe it is important that technology still has many benefits of being implemented in the way we live. We can work with it to make our daily lives a little more stress free. The Internet of Things (IOT) is the concept of data being transferred through systems without the need of human to human interaction. In the automotive industry, self-driving cars have become a reality and is said to be staying for the long run. They will function through multiple sensors and AI algorithms.
The benefit of this will be that it will make the roads safer. Currently, each accident is caused by human error and emotion. If we take humans out the equation then less accidents are bound to happen, all dependent if the technology is throughly tested, of course. The driver is also free to read a book, catch up on work, watch a film whilst AI takes over.
“Is artificial intelligence less than our intelligence?”
— Spike Jonze
Self driving cars seem to be a normalised concept but the elder generations are laughing at us. From themselves working in factories and farms for over 8 hours a day in the scorching sun to us putting our feet up whilst we let algorithms drive us to a desired destination. It’s important that humans don’t get too relaxed so we can always be in control of the technology we encounter. Otherwise, there could be a time in the near distant future where we aren’t benefitting technology itself..
As digital citizens, it’s important to identify and stick to what is ethically correct regardless of how technology interferes with our daily lives. There are pros and cons of this modern way of life, however we should use it to our advantage and be thankful we live in times where the quality of life has improved.
Reflection
Upon completing this module, I now realise that I only knew a fraction of what actually living in a digital society entails. The module taught me that digitalisation is happening very sudden and not waiting around for anyone to adapt. I wanted to do this course because it complimented my degree which is Information Technology (IT). Despite doing IT, there was no module of how citizens are affected by the technological changes happening around the world, therefore this module was the perfect answer. By writing 3 blogs and each one being different, I was able to critically think myself and explore different viewpoints on how people utilise their social profiles and which industries have been affected by the digitalisation era. As I do a logical based degree, writing in a blog style was a refreshing and pleasant experience as I felt I was having conversation instead of concluding formal reports which I’m used to.
I was challenged throughout to use my own thinking and question myself I was doing habits without even realising it, especially in Individual, Identity & Ethics. I use social media regularly as I like to keep up with events happening around the world and being educated on new topics. However, I realised that it has become such an easy habit picking up my phone and scrolling on Twitter or TikTok that I don’t realise how often I did it. My personal screen time is now at figure of 4 hours a day, which is half the amount it was before i entailed on this module. The benefits is that I now feel more productive and I don’t waste time scrolling for hours on a screen.
I didn’t really know what living in a ‘smart city’ entailed before, but I now realise that scanning my university card to get into a building or ordering a Uber are 2 of many daily interactions that I do with the use of technology. Smart cities create a more sustainable way of living for citizens, but personally do I know where the information that is collected on me is going?
This course has provided me insights that will be highly beneficial for my future, especially in the field I want to go into which is IT solutions. My course is heavily linked with the digitalisation of the world, but I now know how it will affect the people and not everything is so positive. Therefore, when I gain industry experience working on digital solutions, this module has aided me to understand the positives and negatives it will have on the people which will help my decision making skills. On an end note, I have reflected future generations will not know a world without digitalisation and the idea of calling a taxi to book will be an alien thought to them…so we have to embrace the changes, no matter how ‘old school’ one is and be excited for what’s to come in the future.
