What Does it Mean to Be Human in a World Run by Technology?
A Prospective Research Study
Introduction
Has technology overstepped its bounds of usefulness and convenience and turned into a destructive, yet unavoidable, addiction for most people? If we were to do a holistic reflection on the state of our society in terms of our progress and overall principle of utility amongst people, could we say we are better off with all of these personal devices at our disposal?
The effects of technology on human nature have been a topic of discussion for some time now, but society has reached a point where we may be seeing technology becoming more harmful rather than efficient and entertaining. Many are starting to grow more of a love-hate relationship with technology as the years go on and feel it is time to take a serious look into how much our personal devices like smartphones, laptops, televisions, and virtual assistants among other digital ecosystems like social media have affected the overall human experience on both an objective and subjective level. The following will be a proposal of a study that would allow us to analyze society’s relationship with their personal devices and the effects of these relationships on our daily life.
Background
The effects technology has had on the world we live in and the conversations surrounding this dynamic are not new. Media outlets, online publications, and even yourself have weighed the positives and negatives when it comes to the presence of technology in our lives. Some look at technology from an accessibility and efficiency perspective and say that our technological advancements have allowed us to communicate, innovate, advertise, travel, and store information better. Others have highlighted the more negative side of our digital world citing issues with posture, vision, mental health, and sleep among others as a result of our unhealthy fixations with our devices.
The way we have operated in our professional and personal lives have changed and steered more and more towards digital interaction because of the global pandemic. This has led many of us to lead a life that is spent staring at screens for a majority of our days, and when it is time to take a break from work, the typical go-to entertainment we use to unwind is housed within another form of digital screen. The issue of over usage of personal devices may be more extreme in younger people, as the average age for owning some form of a personal device continues to drop. Reports say adolescents screen time doubled during the pandemic, a demographic that is most vulnerable to the aforementioned negative effects of constant interaction with our digital devices.
It can be difficult to grasp the true reach these devices have in our everyday lives and how they affect the human experience over time. We as a species are complex and there are many aspects that make us human. In this proposed research study, it will be helpful to break down areas of focus into two categories: qualitative and quantitative.
Quantitative
Quantitative research for this study would be focusing on a number of criteria that can be objectively gathered and interpreted. Quantitative research in regards to the presence of personal digital devices in our everyday lives should be focused on how things like sleep, vision, memory, attention spans, and other indicators of physical health and fitness are affected as device usage increases.
For this particular study, effective ways to gather data about the topic in question would be carrying out controlled experiments. The target demographic would be 15–30 year olds of all genders with various backgrounds. 100 individuals would participate in this study over a course of 30 days. 50 of these individuals will be randomly assigned to a control group while the other 50 are assigned to the experimental group. The control group would be the individuals that would continue their current and normal usage of personal devices while the experimental group will be device free for the 30 day period. All participants will be assessed in each category of measurement (sleep, vision, memory, etc) both at the beginning and end of the experiment to illustrate any variations that occurred over the course of the study.
Qualitative
Qualitative research, on the other hand, will take a much more subjective approach when it comes to gathering data. Within the qualitative research portion of this study, the same 100 participants will be assessed on categories such as depression, anxiety, sociability, and dependence. This data is more interpretive and less straightforward, so it will need to be gathered through surveys and observational research.
Participants in both the control and experimental group will be asked a particular series of questions at both the beginning of the 30 days and at the end of the 30 days that will help gauge their performance or self reflections in the categories listed above. To further and more accurately track the day to day progressions of these metrics, participants will also be asked to fill out a daily journal outlining their overall experience during the experiment and how they are, or are not, being affected by the presence or absence of their personal devices.
Considerations
With technology being ingrained into every aspect of our lives, it may seem impractical for the experimental group to be completely without forms of communication for purposes of safety. To mitigate the negative outcomes and safety concerns of these restrictions put on the experimental group, participants will be given permission to have and use a flip phone for emergency communication purposes only. Additionally, participants in the control group will be required to record their daily screen time for each of their personal devices to better grasp and differentiate the effects of their usage across multiple devices.
Impact and Conclusion
The goal of this study is to gain more insight on how our relationships with our devices have an effect on a multitude of factors that make or break our quality of life. Research about the impact of our digital lives based on the criteria outlined above will allow us to better understand exactly what components of society’s relationship with technology deem to be the most detrimental to the overall human experience. Our world is at a crossroads when it comes to technological advancements. Virtual reality and augmented reality are already becoming more common and accessible at a rapid rate. Conducting extensive, and in depth research on our digital consumption and how it relates to the principle of utility on an individual and societal level is a necessary next step to having a more responsible and informed approach on what forms of progress can actually be considered good progress in digital spaces.
Obviously, a majority of the devices we live with on a day to day basis won’t be going anywhere any time soon, but the many ways we have let these devices control us as opposed to the other way around needs to serve as the foundation for reimagining our digital world. It is very plausible that the next best step forward is to take a step back and decide whether we should continue down a path that may lead to us straying away from our natural affordances and further detaching ourselves from what it means to be human.
