Has the digital revolution fully destroyed social cohesion?
Digital revolution consists in major technological and cultural mutations which have already begun to disrupt our economy and society. It has created a plethora of services, downsized all information access costs and freed much time from previously time-consuming activities. However, by examining it thoroughly, it may also have eroded social cohesion. If digitization is left unchecked, it might degrade it further.
Communities are becoming less interlocked because of the development of peer-to-peer exchanges. Indeed, most peer-to-peer exchanges happen within a community and are not being channelled through diverse communities. A new kind of “egoistic solidarity” has developed as a result. For example, collaborative insurances gather good drivers whom refuse to pay the same price than those they consider bad ones. This mentality is observed at any level of the society: young people complain that they have to pay their elder’s retirement funds, healthy ones demand to be charged less by health insurance companies because they feel they are cheated by sick ones and so on.
Besides, digitization favours the social exclusion of poorer communities and some other ones which are already isolated, such as the elderly. Many factors explain this inequality: precarious groups may not be able to pay for connected gadgets. Even though they could afford an inexpensive smartphone or computer, additional hidden costs (internet subscription, repair fees…) can be a deterrent to long-term use of digital technologies. In addition, lower-end devices aren’t always able to benefit from broadband connexion. Finally, well-equipped individuals sometimes don’t know how to use digital technologies, such as retired, isolated old people who haven’t mastered social media, search engine or even Skype calls.
The digital revolution has had two long-term consequences for everybody’s jobs. Firstly, on a macro scale, new disruptive models are destroying old ones (classical concept of creative destruction from J. Schumpeter), particularly through distribution channels’ modifications. For examples banking networks are being transformed into e-banking systems or shop experiences into e-commerce ones. Secondly, robot-automation (first generation of AI) is increasing productivity by replacing some tasks, thus transforming low-qualifications jobs into engineering, computer-linked, highly qualified professions. We will let you think about this question: To what extent is automation a blessing in disguise?
The digital revolution is based upon technology breakthroughs on data-management, AI and blockchain concepts. According to various studies, it will have direct impacts on more than half of tertiary jobs over a decade. The second generation of AI (machine learning, NLP, etc.) will replace or complete a large scale of supposed human-only competences from direct customer interactions to processes of helping board in decision making. Disintermediation, end of exclusive third-party authorities, accessible data and perpetual doubt is what blockchain is about. Exchanging a plethora of information through blockchain doesn’t need any social cohesion as everything is transparent and available, for everyone, without any “In Real Life” communication prior to the exchange.
To conclude, innovation-related risks of social link decay are not to be underestimated. Digital innovations, which can be seen as progress and emancipation, are not to be fought but have to be paired with citizen sensitization initiatives. Through this transition period special trainings should be implemented for the most fragile populations since many jobs will disappear or be radically transformed.
