Society Digitization
Maybe some of you have come across a short story by E.M. Forster during the lockdown called “The Machine Stops”, which made headlines for its extraordinary prediction. Written in 1909, five years before the cataclysmic event of World War I, the author describes a future world where people “self-isolate”, communicate with each other through screens, and can control the environment of their individual rooms by pressing buttons to experience realistic sensations of sound, scent, and color.
All of this not only reminds us of our shared experiences during the lockdown but also of the broader phenomenon of digitization (“the way many areas of social life are being restructured around digital communication and media infrastructure”), which the Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated. Since the emergence of Covid-19, practically everyone’s world has become more digitized: public events, family gatherings, university programs, and even evening entertainment are routinely conducted. We communicate through Zoom or similar online platforms. Like in Forster’s story, we are in contact with others, but it’s not quite the same: “I see something like you on this screen, but I don’t see you. Through this phone, I hear something like you, but I don’t hear you.”
However, this phenomenon was already happening before the pandemic, especially among younger people who spend a large part of their lives on social media or playing computer games, while being less skilled in face-to-face communication. Even before the internet, television started eroding the tradition of family dinners, and as technology advanced, it became normal for every child to have a television (today, a computer with internet connection) in their room.
In recent years, digitization has become increasingly sophisticated and complex, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). Applications are everywhere and for everything: finding soulmates, planning trips, banking, tracking health and fitness… Many of them make life easier – everything is there, just a click away. But at the same time, it’s also changing the way we interact and communicate with each other. ah, available – and potentially more efficient and profitable for business. There are car insurance apps that analyze vehicle breakdowns and estimate damages, often without the need for an appraiser; hospital apps have been developed to check patients’ conditions, reducing the pressure on doctors and nurses to visit patients.
All of this makes sense, but there are at least two dangers: dehumanization and loss of privacy, as well as data security and “control”. The latter has greatly disturbed some activists in the digital industry, such as former Google employee Tristan Harris, who appears in the 2020 documentary film “The Social Dilemma”. This film shows how algorithms, used to maximize sales and expand markets, can actually change and control the way people think. People who spend a lot of time online can easily get pulled into “echo chambers” and “bubbles” where They only receive information that they like and agree with, so in the end they believe that their way of seeing the world is the only way. This can consequently lead to polarization and potentially violence against those who dare to think differently.
Another danger is when governments have control over this technology and use it to control their citizens, which has already started happening in China, where the phenomenon of “social credit” has been tested in multiple areas. If you do not adapt, your social credit score will be reduced and it will become difficult for you to get a job, and you could even become socially isolated (by the way, something else that happens in Forster’s story). Like with any technology, the problem is not the technology itself, but the way people use it. Just like in our present time, “money rules” and there is a lack of morals.
Let’s continue to enjoy and save time with our applications, but let’s not forget the human aspect, because what makes life on Earth either a paradise or a hell is precisely human. Beings and decisions we make.
1 Echo chamber is a metaphorical description of the grouping of like-minded people in closed circles where nothing can be heard other than their own voice or opinion.