Benevolent, inclusive, collective, inspiring… Our columnist Imed Boughzala describes what a responsible digital manifesto can be for the years to come and how it resonates with our basic needs.
What kind of digital world do we want for tomorrow? A question that deserves to be asked, restated and even imposed, in an era where the race towards technological development and digital superiority sometimes makes us forget that we are above all (and despite everything) human beings with fundamental needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs classifies these needs required for humans to live in peace with the outside world. These are physiological needs (breathing, hunger, thirst, sexuality, sleep…), security needs (stable and predictable environment, without anxiety or crisis), love and belonging needs (affection of others), esteem needs (self-confidence and self-respect, recognition and appreciation of others) and self-actualization needs (personal development, culture, search for balance).
They take on a new meaning in an era where humanity is challenged and even threatened by transitions and crises of all kinds, both new and unprecedented.
The Covid health crisis reminds and shows us how fragile we are as human beings. Digital technology has played a major role in helping us out, and this role will become even more important in the future. Nothing will be the same as before, whether it concerns: communication, conversation, information, education, trade, health care, entertainment, etc. Digital technology already seems to meet some of our basic needs.
Having continuous access to the Internet has become almost a physiological need for some people, highlighting the antagonism between dependence and the need to move towards a sustainable digital world. Surfing the Internet and exposing oneself to risks develops our need for security, raising the question of protection in a digital space that wants to be more responsible and sovereign. Connecting to other people so as not to feel lonely or isolated by creating links responds to a need for love and belonging, but does it create links for a more inclusive and collective digital world?
To be known and to shine portrays a need for self-esteem to improve one’s self-confidence, but how to take care of one’s e-reputation in an equitable digital context allowing to give meaning? Learning and training online through technologies demonstrates a need for accomplishment and development of knowledge and skills, but what about a stimulating and inspiring digital environment?
In a community sense, the question remains: what kind of digital technology do we want for tomorrow?
Manifesto for a sustainable and responsible digital world
– Digital technology that makes our lives easier, not more complicated;
– A digital that calms us and not stresses us and alters our mental health;
– A digital that includes us, unites us, reunites us and does not separate us;
– A digital that highlights the difference and does not advocate uniformity;
– A digital that brings us together in our diversity without cutting us off from our roots and our ties;
– A digital that educates us and strengthens our citizenship but does not stir up hatred, racism and extremism;
– A digital that reassures us without scaring us or threatening us;
– A digital that protects us, makes us confident but does not weaken us or arouse our suspicions;
– A digital that enhances us and does not diminish us through abundance and dependence;
– A digital that reinvents us, emancipates us but does not imprison or limit us;
– A digital that expands our imagination and develops our creativity without restricting us;
– A digital that pushes us towards innovation and frugality without encouraging us to conform and think in a single way;
– A digital that encourages us to be entrepreneurial and that does not make us fall into welfare or the spirit of the rentier.
– A digital that makes us responsible and that does not deteriorate or destroy the environment;
– A digital that makes us sovereign and not dependent and constrained.
The answer lies in the acculturation to digital literacy, a way to develop digital skills in citizens (i.e. a kind of citizenship called digital), in organizations and even in the States. After having talked about digital civism – a citizen challenge for a responsible use of digital technologies – and digital sobriety – an important societal issue that aims at reducing the carbon footprint of the digital sector in terms of energy consumption – comes another rather geopolitical issue, even if it is technological at the beginning: digital sovereignty.
This is a subject that is of increasing concern to countries and states in order to defend their interests and those of their populations, and to assert their power and technological superiority. For France, it is about preserving its digital independence (infrastructure, equipment, networks, data, skills …). Some people have even been worried for a while about Europe becoming “a digital colony of the United States” or even of another country, who knows…
A sovereignty that protects jobs, data, privacy, health, intellectual and material property, social model, prosperity, taxation, economy, etc. A state that could guarantee that the pyramid of needs of its population does not collapse.
By Imed Boughzala, Alliancy, e-reputation column, January 2022.
To find all the articles in the column, click here.