I am trying to get a big picture of where we as individuals and as a society are going. Coming from the technological side, I am not interested in condemning technology as a total, but rather trying to identify “social bugs”, as I call them, to improve our everyday life.
This question is trying to understand:
1. What exactly has changed at individual (psychological) level and in our society (relationships, culture, etc.)?
2. Why has it changed?
3. What was it that changed it?
4. How could that be avoided?
I highly appreciate interdisciplinary answers, personal opinions and links to related research.
Hi Jaqueline, One important aspect of technical development, and mostly that of the immersive displays and realistic audio experience, is that our perception of reality altered. If you are interested more look for keywords such as 'presence', 'virtual reality'. When we measure event related potentials (ERP) or even just behavioral responses participants who are feeling more immersed have altered ERP responses (e.g. look at the work of Kober & Neuper, 2012, see link). This is just one example but you will find more interesting data when going after those keywords!
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581912000638
Hi Jacqueline, The human perceptions are really changing day by day just because the change in behaviours. Its not because their is innovations in technology but due to our trends towards materialism. There are some of our spiritual needs and some of them are material or physical needs. We do not focus on long lasting impacts of our deeds instead we just focus on what more we can get in short time periods. This creates competition. when there is everywhere competition people have no interest from where you get it they just focus on how to get it, more and more everyday.
This trend of getting stuff of different fashions the bend toward materialism develops in our
behaviours. People can wait in a que a day before apple launch while there could be chilling weather outside, but have no fear in their minds about a hungry neighbour sleeping without dinner. This trend of being first to get any thing and a wish to be in lime light by posting mails and moods on facebook is a clear sign that we always like to fulfill our wishes and personal feelings.
The same trend is spreading like a disease globally but in east contrary to west there are still you can find the people who spend their whole life to serve others and who care for values more than material itself. When a pair opt for suicide just due to the storm which forced them to stay at home and couldn't go out for vacations. What it shows that desire for fulfilling the wish is so great that s/he can finish their lives. A fear that what to post on instagram/ facebook that we are still at home not in huwai. Technology itself doesn't forced us to do this but an urge to fulfill our desire which increased at such a big level if not fulfilled even can get our life. Had there been a balance of material and spirituality the result would not be the same.
Thank you to you all, Ágoston, Wajid and John!
Your ideas have very interesting angles!
I wonder who is officially analysing abuse, impacts and trends of all this.. Mostly I find people and authors who are not working in governments or NGOs...
Dear Jaqueline
here are the publications:
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/530566/the-impact-of-the-internet-on-society-a-global-perspective/
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/technology-can-have-positive-and-negative-impact-on-social-interactions
http://www.zurich.ibm.com/pdf/news/Konsbruck.pdf
good luck with your study
a.
Thank you Rahimi! That looks great, I will have a closer look at it soon!
Dear Brinn,
Hope these will help you.
https://globaljournals.org/GJCST_Volume14/5-Influence-of-Facebook-in-Academic.pdf
1) Social dependency
The rate of change that we now live with is fuelled by technologies such as computers. Coping with change creates stress and isolation. Although much larger populations can be made plausibly viable with these tools a large underclass can be left out or made dependent. This creates vulnerable sub-classes - this may be a design flaw. Software engineers will tell that design flaws are many times harder and more costly to fix than basic bugs. The consequences will tend to be new groupings. (Made easier by the very technology that created the problem!)
2) Basis Loss
The dependency on technology to solve everyday tasks can create a loss of connection with the process that would have been used in the past. It creates the illusion that this is how it is now done so I need not know anything more about it. Unfortunately knowing how things arise helps us check their validity and without it we move on with blind acceptance. Apply this to large populations with all that attendant inertia and the result is loss of ability to question and refine. The current social and scientific beliefs become difficult to escape from.
3) Meme propagation (see the selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins)
With the advent of powerful communications and computing, random and even bizarre beliefs now regularly haunt the more susceptible. This attacks social cohesion. The internet is not a particularly good thing when this affect is taken into account. Again this is at the level of a design flaw.
4) Peer Pressure - herd mentality brings conformity but frequently it can still be detrimental.
5) Isolation - Just stand waiting for a train at any British station and watch the phones come out and the frantic dobbing at titchy screens. No one looks around - they are all in their own heads. It is probably no longer rare for two people to hold a via SMS/email when they are near enough to talk.
6) A new fashion industry - mobiles/computing - a cynical move?
7) Games - relieve the pressure of real interaction by playing games to get the reward of apparent (safe ) interactions in a game. Again isolating.
All bugs condemn a system to some extent. So the negative slant is predominant here. For example the last one; games could be seen as coping strategy that can be taught via a game but it rarely meets the total need and creates an illusion of a solution.
So what is good? Systems and solutions that are far beyond our ability to handle can be realised. Examples military sensors and defence systems , power controls systems, government management systems (tax and pensions) trading systems... do you notice these tend to be for the social "animal". Individuality traded out for sake of society. That is not actually bad but in a trade-off it should ultimately find an acceptable balance - that is the point.
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