By looking at the society we live in today, I think the most of us are not very conscious about the fact that technology, like a smartphone, computer or tv, plays an immersive role in our lives. We watch Youtube when we’re bored, look up information on Google when want an answer or play games at 4K on a full HDR tv when we have free time. One can actually say that the digital world is beautifully integrated in our lives. I actually remember the good old times – ‘old’ is very relative in this case– in the beautiful, less digital days of my life at the begin of the 21st century. The digital world was actually more of an tool rather than a necessity, like a wrench for a mechanic or glasses for a person. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that society opened its eyes for the beauty, and maybe the dark side, of the Digital.
My first digital tool
The first time I used something digital was an old Sony Ericson cellphone. Besides calling and sending text messages, which could take ages to write, I played the game Snake alot. A game that every adult, who owned a cellphone, should know. It was also one of my first times browsing the world wide web on a phone. With a tiny screen and words taking ages to write, it was a very inefficient way to browse the web. Not much later I got introduced to a bulky Laptop. At that time I was getting used to the massive desktop computers, but using a laptop felt simply incredible. It felt like an improvement, a development and an accomplishment for the humans and for the society. Being able to browse the web, watch a movie or play games with a powerful machine on your lap was something new and amazing. This comfort is one of the reasons for me why I started gaming more. At that time, Sony came with a revolutionary game computer, the PlayStation 2. A device capable of playing good looking 3D games was something amazing, however a thing that started as a hobby became a habit really fast. A habit that made me go less outside, do less activity etc. With the rapid development of technology I saw my social life and the social lives of the people around me shifting critically towards an digital society, especially with the arrival of the smartphone.
The downfall of social life?
I first want you to know that we humans are an emotional being that needs some sort of interindividual interactions to live comfortably. With technological advantages like Whatsapp, Facetime, Facebook etc. a person no longer needs a direct human to human interaction anymore. A person doesn’t have to know your real name to talk to you nor does a person has to see your face to have a conversation with you. It is a big topic to cover it all, but I hope it becomes clear that our social life shifted from the real world to a digital life.
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