If you are reading this, you have access to the internet and a device with a screen. Maybe you get a lot of information and entertainment through social media platforms. Maybe you’ve used services powered by AI, or have used AI tools yourself.
Since you are reading this blog, you likely have at least a broad understanding that there are devastating social and environmental consequences of the rapid advances of digital technology.
And you probably are at a standstill as to what solutions there are, if any. Maybe you are wondering what is the point of exploring these topics, since the internet and AI, like most major technological advances in history, are not going back into the box. And the thought of retreating into a preindustrial cottage with no penicillin and cat memes doesn’t seem particularly feasible or appealing.
My interest, then, when addressing the impact of digital platforms on the global economy is to look at its structure:
- How does it work in the entire chain of production and use?
- Who does it affect?
- Who has the authority to decide how the structure operates?
- Where does this authority derive its legitimacy from?
- What are some potential factors and actors of change?
- How can the change be coordinated and communicated?
Our experiences of the world, our actions and our beliefs are influenced by the systems in which we exist, the ideas we are exposed to, our social circles, and what our society, our cultures and sub-cultures find acceptable.
It would be counterproductive to exist in an emotional state of perpetual outrage and hand-wringing – which the current state of human rights would certainly warrant. And it would be exhausting to constantly consider the ethical implications of every aspect of our human lives when we have so little say in the decisional factors that shape them. Besides, guilt and shame, while effective in setting individual behaviour when enforced on a societal scale, are not very apt rhetorical tools.
Through my education and experience as an architect, through my work with young people in non-formal education projects on civic and political topics, and my current corporate job, each of these in a different country, I’ve seen how different professional and social circles define different norms, behaviours, and social dynamics. I experienced first-hand how these contexts influenced my opinions and agency. Therefore, I believe that, when addressing normalised structures, it’s necessary to have an empathetic approach that accounts for a person’s background to successfully invite them to question their previously held beliefs and assumptions.
In my writing on this blog, I aim to:
- Inform you about the impact of digital platforms.
- Reveal the structural reasons why things are the way they are.
- Invite you to reflect on our place in the structure.
I hope you join me and my colleagues in exploring the different ways in which digital platforms impact the livelihoods of people around the planet, beyond the screens beneath our fingertips.
Image: ThibautRe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.