“We are now all connected by the internet, like neurons in a giant brain” – Stephen Hawking
These days, we live plugged-in lives. Most of us are connected everywhere that we go, in ways never before possible. The benefits that this provides are clear, but there still remains a moral panic concerning the ways that digital culture impacts our actual lives.
Take me, for example. I am part of the iGeneration, living in a highly populated area, and I rely on my networked home for just about everything that I do. Every day, the first thing I do is clear my notifications, reply to messages, and spend at least 15 minutes scrolling through various social media channels. Most days, I use the internet to complete my university work, accessing the online learning platform to view my tasks, textbooks and lectures. Often, I stream music while I work, and will have the odd social media scroll between answering questions. After my university work is completed, I might reply to emails, online shop, check my bank using a smartphone app, stream TV shows, FaceTime my partner, upload new content to the social media pages I run, or take phone calls/answer queries from my workplace. And, after an exhausting day of being an active digital citizen, I usually ‘un-plug’, place my device on the other side of the bed, roll over, and go to sleep, with my robot.
So, I am constantly connected. But is this a good thing?
Some would say I have an addiction (as I quite literally spend most of my day using the internet). But, I am not actually dependent on the internet to survive. I am quite capable of going without my phone, or an internet connection. Rather, as Zaryn Dentzel puts it, “ours is a networked, globalised society connected by new technologies.” And, as a consequence, my life is highly digitalised, and the way that I complete many of my tasks is through some online interface.
Are our networked lives leading us to our own demise? Comment below.
