Living in the Digital Societ
Nowadays, we have long been unable to disconnect from the convenience that the digital society has brought us. It has changed every aspect of our lives, work, studies, food, and healthcare. The digital society has become an integral part of the Internet age. But underneath the convenience, there are also these hidden concerns that cannot be ignored.
Chatbot
Chatbots can reduce labour costs and handle simple tasks more quickly. From 2015 to 2016, the number of social messages requiring a response from brands increased by 18%. In some simple scenarios, chatbots can also respond to customer questions by recognising keywords, reducing the workload of human customer service. In my own experience, gaming companies have used voice chatbots to make calls to players. It uses pre-recorded audio and programming to make this voice conversation sound like a real person is talking to you. This is more likely to be received by users than an email that might be put into a spam folder.
But chatbots also run the risk of being hacked and maliciously influenced. Microsoft’s bot Tay, for example, has been ‘trained’ by internet users to be a racist. Chatbots are also always controlled by the program behind them. The program’s content dictates all its actions, making it possible to misunderstand the user’s intentions and not respond as appropriately as humans.
Social media
Social media has given everyone a more expansive social space. According to a 2022 survey, 58.4% of the world’s population uses social media, with an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes of use per day. As long as we have the internet and electronic devices, we can communicate regardless of location and time, whether text, voice or video calls. We can also get the latest news quickly, whether from government agencies or family and friends. Before the advent of the Internet, we could not have imagined that our lives could become so convenient that we could be connected to the world by turning on our electronic devices.
But countless times, we have seen and even been influenced by negative comments on social media. The anonymity of the internet allows the evil in human nature to be magnified. In their anonymity, some people attack others with impunity, even without paying any price. The internet also makes it possible for the information to be seen by everyone simultaneously. At certain moments, it can also expose people to more malice.
In 2019, a 16-year-old girl posted a poll on her Instagram account asking internet users to help her choose whether she should die or not. And according to the poll, 69% of the voting netizens chose to support her to die, and she subsequently took her own life. The malice that lurks in people’s hearts is amplified by the convenience of the internet at this time. It is even more difficult for young people to resist these negative influences because they are not fully developed physically and mentally. Teenagers subjected to hate speech and cyberbullying are more likely to feel anxious and depressed. The end result is likely to be death, as in this girl’s case.
Personalised recommendations
Personalised recommendations allow us to find the products or other things we want quickly. By counting and analysing our browsing history, time spent, history of purchases and other data, internet companies can get a clear picture of what each of us thinks and use this as a basis for recommendations. This also makes it easy for us to find what we need or to discover something that better matches our preferences.
But while everything has become more convenient, personalised recommendations have also created a filter bubble. We see and focus only on what we want to see in an endless stream of personalised recommendations. And as part of the internet, we can’t avoid it or even realise we are in a filter bubble. Even if one wants to escape from the filter bubble, there is no clear ending solution today. This is likely to lead us to get lost in the virtual world of the internet.
At the same time, the recording and analysis of personal information can lead to many security problems. In the case of information leaks from internet companies, our names, phone numbers, addresses, bank account passwords and other private information can be compromised.
Between January and February this year, a malicious hacker accessed the network of US healthcare provider ARcare, causing a data breach affecting 345,000 people. In addition to the private information mentioned above, data such as users’ medical information, medical diagnoses and health insurance information were also compromised. This healthcare information is vital to people’s lives. If it falls into the hands of criminals and becomes a tool for them to threaten users, the consequences are unthinkable.
Conclusion
We have long depended on everything that the digital society has given us and cannot even imagine what the world would be like without it. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to the crises within. The names, addresses and contact details we leave on websites can become a threat to our safety. Only by being more vigilant and aware of our protection can we avoid most of the risks as much as possible while enjoying the conveniences of the digital society.
Reflection
The new format of teaching and assessment in this course gave me a new experience. This is especially true for assessment. While most of what we wrote in university was academic papers, this course was about giving feedback on what we have learnt in the form of a blog post. This has taught me many things I didn’t know before, such as common websites for image material and how to cite in a blog post. Also, the choice of topics for blog posts is vast. For example, in Digsoc 1, students were given the freedom to choose an individual or organisation with a public online presence and write a blog post. This gives students a great deal of freedom.
Secondly, all assessments were posted to Medium was also very helpful to me. In my previous studies, we rarely had the opportunity to see the content of other students’ essays. But through Medium, I was able to see Digsoc from past students. This gave me some insight into the blog post format and gave me a lot of inspiration. I was also able to learn from it, find my shortcomings and improve on them
The digital society is changing our lives at a rapid pace. As a graduating student, the Week 9 article ‘Reflecting on your employability for a digital future’ greatly interested me. How to improve employability and the skills needed to work in a digital society is what most students have to think about. This course systematically showed us the various aspects of the digital society. It gave me a more comprehensive understanding of all this. The only way we can meet the challenges of automation in our future industries is to change at a faster pace to keep up with society and avoid simple repetitive tasks.
Some households without access to the internet are mentioned in ‘Smart cities’. There is a digital divide in every city and bridging it is a major challenge for smart cities. How to bridge the digital divide to help people live better is something we in Generation Z should be thinking about and addressing.
