Impact of Digital Life on Society – positive or negative or both?
Before I became a student of Content Strategy, to be honest, I had not reflected a lot about digitalization and its impacts on my life. Sometimes digital life seemed to be improving many dimensions of my work and home life but, on the other side, it just seemed to be a waste of time as a generator of irrelevant information and banal knowledge.
The current study, Social Research lectures, and the recent COVID 19 situation led me think more about this “new” digital way of living and acting in society. I would like to write about both sides of the story, taking some time to point out situations in which digital life can be a blessing, but also cause issues. Since I became interested in the topic, I conducted desktop research and analyzed some interviewers' utterances about the impact of digital life, which I found on the website Pew Research Center*, and finally aligned those statements to my thoughts.
The goal of this blog post was not to conduct detailed qualitative data analyses but to show how reasons, opinions, motivations are the basis for conducting qualitative social research in order to provide insights into problem or develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.
Our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness, and our human relationship with technology is a classic testament to that. ANDIE DIEMER, journalist and activist
Let's start with some positive sides of digital life!
1. Communication enrichment & enhancement
Digitalization can definitely contribute to lowering the barriers of communication. We are able to be in closer touch with our family and friends because we can communicate where ever we are and by everything, from texts to video calls. We can talk to someone on the other side of the world at low cost in a way that was unthinkable a decade ago.
2. Work creator, enabler & improver
Digital technology has allowed us to work effectively from wherever we are in the world ensuring a remote work and work from home. There are absolute cost savings, qualitative benefits in employee work-life balance and productivity. Digital technology has given us working opportunities that had not been possible before the digital revolution began. It gave us professions that did not exist when we were growing up.
3. Social media: The horizon expander & community lifeline
Seeing, learning from, supporting and spreading what’s meaningful to other people in their work and lives can be a great source of inspiration for us. Now, we have the ability to find similar people, those who share our interests, passions and concerns, in ways that we could not when our connections were limited by time and geographical position.
4. Knowledge storehouse
Digital technology enables access to a vast store of information and research data. Sharing enables knowledge to flow from those who "know" rather than only those who "control". People have a better grasp of news and tools that can make their lives easier. Spread of knowledge is faster and deeper. We have what we want, everything at our fingertips.
5. Education tool
The internet and associated technologies enable the society in a great manner to access necessary information, technology and means for scientific production, teaching and learning. How could I “embark” on the Content Strategy flow without accepting digital life? Digitalization has enabled me to collaborate with colleagues from different parts of Europe and the world, which is an incredible self-improvement experience. In the beginning, it was very difficult to communicate only digitally, but our recent weeks helped surely get to know better each other and enhance our Content Strategy knowledge journey.
And what about the negative aspects of digital life?
1. Alone together - social media as a substitute for a real connection with friends
While digital life has made life easier, it has also reduced the warm human context. The increasing isolation is a negative effect I feel in my surroundings. We communicate through social media rather than spend an evening chatting, building relationships and enjoying the company. I see a lot of people stuck on their phones in public areas, classrooms and study rooms. Digitalization phenomenon may contribute to isolation and cause mental health issues.
2. Distractions and addiction
An associate professor based in North America said;
It is hard to be present with the omnipresent imposition of technology. When I am with family, technology reminds me of work. When I am alone, technology reminds me of friends I am missing. When I am at work, I cannot be present when technology reminds me of friends and family.
We are reachable at every place, overwhelmed by a lot of information even by a great number of unnecessary ones. In the rush for the "new thing" or endorphin-reinforced digital transaction we often are forsaking the opportunities to interact with other people, to be present and to have a better social life quality.
3. Family and societal challenges
Family members, especially new generations, are addicted to their devices. In some cases, a lack of social skills is evident. The adults in my life are also hyper-connected and are on their devices right before sleep and upon waking up. The decrease in human interaction is evident. People’s self-esteem is now wrapped up with their online social activity. This could be very problematic for our inner, ethical lives.
4. Toxic social media
While it is easier to contact friends and family, most social media sites seem to be fragmenting civil society by creating information and entertainment bubbles for like-minded people. Here also appears to be an increasing population of people who mistake social media presence with professional achievement. Sometimes we do not understand who or what we can trust anymore.
5. Never ending work with new demands and expectations
People have developed the habit of taking work home, which often negatively impacts their private life and leads to home-based stress development. Further, that habit reduced the time for exercise and leisure – all of which can negatively impact physical, emotional and mental health. Nowadays, working time is more than 8 hours a day. Digital technology radically increases expectations for instantaneous responses. People expect a response faster and at any time. There is not much time for reflection or analysis.
Digital technology is used so often today to encompass almost everything. No product is made today, no person moves, nothing is collected, analyzed, or communicated without some digital technology being an integral part of it. It is so useful that for a very short time it has become an integral part of all of our lives. Like most technologies, the overall benefit is positive, otherwise, people would not adopt them. In the recent COVID 19 situation we could witness how digital technology helped us continue with our lives, work, studies, remain in touch with other people, proceed while every real physical contact was disabled.
Technological progress is able to improve our lives, but we have to master our ability to successfully manage the process for social good. At the same time, there needs to be some intelligent guidelines in terms of using the technology and when it is appropriate to use it and not use it.
Finally, digital life should not replace our real life but complement it!
Technology improves the lives of people who can avoid being dominated by it and forced into debilitating addictions to it. FRANK KAUFMANN, a scholar, educator, innovator and activist based in North America
*Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.
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