The implications of living in a digital society
Technology has allowed amazing achievements specially in terms of ensuring a global connectedness. With the development of online platforms, e-commerce and social media we can have access to almost every person or object no matter where they are. We might feel that we are more connected to others than ever, but we should ask ourselves if this is truly the case.
If we think about it many of the advances in technology reduce our need to directly communicate with others. For example, services like Deliveroo allow you to order food and have it delivered at your house without having to talk with anyone at all. Recently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Korea has developed self-serving shops where there is no staff at all. You can take your products and pay for them without any type of social interaction. These shops were developed to fit the current situation by reducing physical contact and cost, but if they are maintained and popularised maybe this will be the new future of shops which will continue to reduce the amount of direct interactions we have with other people.
All these changes should make us consider if we are still socially capable of engaging with others. In an article in Liberty Academy, they suggest that developments in technology affect important aspects of communication like being able to keep direct eye contact or interpreting body language. These skills are essential in efficient communication and we might be in the way of losing them.
However, we should not forget that the digital world has also contributed hugely to other aspects of communication. For instance, it has provided a space of personal disclosure to give visibility and talk openly about problems people face. The fact that there are millions of users sharing their experience with depression, anxiety or eating disorders among others makes us realize these problems are not only happening to us and can help us feel part of a community. For example, a famous Instagram fitness influencer called Stephanie Buttermore, shared her experience of extreme dieting, extreme hunger and body-image issues as she gained weight.
Her case marked me personally because I, like many other people, tend to idealise fitness influencers, their bodies and their techniques to be lean. The fact that she shared how much she was struggling made me realise that what we see in social media is a small piece of reality. We only disclose a tiny part of ourselves which often aims to show the bright side of our lives. We somehow have an online identity which is different to who we are in real life.
This idea of an online identity relates directly to the moral rules we have in the online world. Our understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour is different in face-to-face communication than online. In a real-life conversation direct verbal attacks are very rare which is not the case in, for example, the comments section of an Instagram post. In an article on BroadBand Search they say that 36.5% of people report feeling cyberbullied and what is most worrying, this percentage keeps increasing. Another example is stalking. Numbers show that 16% of women and 5% of men have been stalked. In real life, someone who is not close to you but knows who you are friends with, who you were with last night or where you live would be very creepy. However, it seems that stalking is not that big of a crime in social media. It seems that because the information is easily available and public you have the right to know it.
As users we are responsible of the use we give to the Internet. Despite the differences between real life and online interactions we should keep our moral values and use our common sense to determine that something we wouldn’t do in real life shouldn’t be done in online platforms either. The possibility to stay anonymous or the availability of the information should not be an excuse to lose our sense of morality in the Digital World.
One last concern is what happens when it is the big enterprises who are not moral and share our information or use it to control us. It is clear that we generate data every time we use online platforms and, in the end, all this information is in the hands of big companies like Google or Facebook and we do not know how it can be used later on. This control over our data is even more enhanced with the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) which is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. It is no secret that smart devices like home assistants as Alexa listen to our conversations to know more about us and propose personalised ads or objects. It may look like a useful and practical tool at first but if we think about it, it’s quite invasive and controlling. Once again, it is up to us to decide if we prefer comfort over privacy and to what extent we will let companies know information about ourselves.
Personal reflection
I chose this module because as a Psychology student I wanted to know more about the changes the digital world was making in individuals and society. I am especially interested in team work and interpersonal relationships so my main aim was to get a full range of information on technology and the digital world that I could apply to these domains in combination with the information provided by my course.
This module has helped me a lot specially in terms of planning my future career path. My goal is to study Organisational Psychology and work with enterprises and teams. However, my main concern was whether the job I chose would even be necessary when I started working. This module has provided me with enough information of which domains we can expect to be the most affected by technology and the type of skills needed to progress professionally while living in a digital era. I now feel confident and reassured that my job will not be dispensable. I think that I have developed a good understanding of what the digital world is and its implications so I can adapt even better to future changes and start developing skills (specially social skills) that will be needed as technology and automation advance.
Another thing I have developed through this module was the ability to write a blog post. In my course I only do academic writing and it’s often stressful because there are many formatting and referencing rules. Writing these posts was freeing in the sense that they are much more open and you can be more creative. I specially liked the fact that you have to make your blog aesthetic and appealing so people actually want to read it. This skill is also important in my course and indirectly, this module enhanced my writing skills in academic writing. For example, when I had to write a summary of a series of experiments, the marker complimented how well summarised and easy to read my paper was.
The module has also given me a different point of view in how technology will affect our lives. I used to have a very pessimistic idea of how automation and AI would take over many jobs and make us more individualistic and selfish. However, I now think that technology can become a huge tool to enhance our lives. The topic on The Internet of Things really marked me because on the video of How the Jetsons Predicted the Future they challenged the idea that maybe jobs should not be as central as they are. This made me think because it was not something I had even considered before. The idea of needing to work 5 days a week was basic to me, so seeing that technology had the potential to change this assumption completely shifted my opinion on the applications and implications of technology and automation.
Digital Society has developed a lot my understanding of the digital world, its history and where it is possibly heading to. Just by taking this module I feel that I have an advantage in terms of the professional choices I will make and how I will use the Internet from now on. It has enhanced my critical thinking because all the topics are open to personal opinion and reflection. We are given the information and the tools to interpret each topic but it is always up to us to from an opinion on them. It has also helped me have better lateral thinking and see the full range of options and opportunities technology could bring about.
