Navigating a Digitally-Reliant World
Communication and connection today is vastly different from how humans have interacted in the past. During the Second Industrial Revolution, communication transformed with technological advances like the telephone and telegraph, but the Digital Revolution has produced a means of ensuring that society is always on, always connected—whether or not we want to be. Wireless and mobile technologies provide access to information that we are compulsively signed into. On the one hand, our global network has made us a much more open society; we accept and share our cultural differences through digital platforms. But this interconnectivity has a dark side as well: in such a connected world, there is a huge issue with feelings of isolation. In some ways, we have lost an element of true human because we are so reliant on our digital channels, "we text instead of call. We like, share, tweet, post, snap, pin, and swipe. Even when we're together our eyes remain affixed to our screens" (Vine, 2019, para 1). There has been a massive increase in anxiety because while digital interaction has increased, in-person connection has begun to drop, "we are at a crucial moment, one where it is more important than ever to critically interrogate what it means to be social" (Sujon & Dyer, 2020, p. 1162).
This anxiety can also stem from our now public lives. Because of the Internet and social media, there is very little privacy to be had—both in the data and psychological sense. Society's adoption and integration of digital spaces like social media occurred so rapidly, that we have only recently begun to analyze these issues. We have never been so accessible and there are many disputes and concerns over what information can or should be considered public versus private, "it is essential to develop privacy theory in order to enable the engineering of privacy protection mechanisms into computer systems; to evaluate the privacy implications of new technological innovations; to develop computer systems that can use observable contextual phenomena, physical (e.g., location), physiological (e.g., heart rate), etc. to infer users' privacy needs; and to inform social policies and protections" (Stuart, Bandara, & Levine, 2019, p. 9). Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th, women have been sharing advice to no longer track menstrual cycles via mobile apps because there is concern around data privacy and potential criminal charges. The lack of policy surrounding issues such as this continue to plague the benefits of digital transformation.
At the root of all concern is the fact that our society has integrated this digital space so inherently into our daily lives. While digital transformation has brought radical, positive changes to society, there are many issues with our reliance. At a 2018 TEDx event, Leslie Coutterand, a former French actress turned social activist, shared her awakening from a digitally-addicted lifestyle:
"Social media and smartphones turned what had been limited to TV, magazines, and newspapers into something that follows us everywhere … so all day images are flashed to us in three-second posts. It generates feels on need, lack, and competition. The social platforms that were originally set up with the best of intentions became quickly the largest, most powerful social conditioner of all time. And it’s pushing everyone to display their ideal life and to watch their ideal peers ... many studies show that our current social media consumption can lead us to depression, addiction, self-doubt, and unhappiness that social media algorithms create echo chambers and reduce our exposure to new ideas ... in this hyper-connected world our digital habits have a long-term impact on ourselves, our society, and our planet." (3:09 – 9:52)
So, how do we navigate this digitally-reliant world? While I hope to see a future with more regulations and ethical guidelines around these concerns, there are a few ways to traverse these ambiguities:
- continually further your digital media literacy education
- when reading content online take a moment to ask yourself not only what the message is, but why and how this piece of content may have found its way to you—check out my blog post about media literacy in the digital era for more info
- use journalistic codes of ethics creating content online
- while not all content producers must adhere to any ethical guidelines, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with these codes (I suggest checking out the SPJ, PRSA, or IABC guidelines) to understand how digital communication impacts society and to set your own individual code of ethics to abide by
- set boundaries around your digital usage
- our ease of accessibility to information can lead to anxiety, depression, frustration, and isolation so setting personal boundaries around how much time you spend in the virtual verse can help mitigate these issues—some ideas are: turning off push notifications, scheduling specific times to check your phone, not taking your phone to bed, being mindful of not toggling between social media apps, leaving your devices in other rooms from where you are, etc.
- spend more time #IRL
- instead of connecting with your peers only through text, DMs, or video chats, spend more time interacting in person whenever possible and make an effort to not use your devices during these times
References
Coutterand, L. (2018, November 8). Social media addiction [Video]. TEDx Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_coutterand_social_media_addiction
Stuart, A., Bandara, A.K., & Levine, M. (2019). The psychology of privacy in the digital age. Social and personality psychology compass, 13(11), 1 – 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12507
Sujon, Z. & Dyer, H.T. (2020). Understanding the social in a digital age. New media & society, 22(7), 1125 – 1134. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444820912531
Vine, B. (2019, February 13). Social anxiety in the digital age. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-guest-room/201902/social-anxiety-in-the-digital-age
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