Digital Futures

Will technology heighten the erosion of social relationships? Or will it enhance our ability to connect with others irrespective of geographic proximity and time. In my opinion, technology is a tool that we as humans use to improve everyday life. However, in modern times this tool begins to use us, control us, we are now depending on it.


Technology is somewhat a culture in its self, or at least it is becoming one.
 People become attached to their digital devices, how often do you leave home without taking a mobile phone? People spend hours on end looking at their TV screens, playing computer games and on their lap tops. This is dangerous to society, the essence of being is lost, we become attached to our digital gadgets and are sense of communication and awareness is absent. What will happen to the future generations if we do not put a stop to this now? The days where climbing trees and having picnics in the park are long gone, children are now glued to their digital devices. What will happen to society if our ability to communicate is forsaken? Will we become emotionless and disorientated? Thinking like a computer will rob us of our ability to be compassionate and empathetic to each other, technology works on an input and output system, it lacks sentiments.

"The more distracted we become, the less able we are to experience the subtlest, most distinctly human forms of empathy, compassion, and emotion." – Nicholas Carr

 Technology allows us to ‘save’ memories, we can retrieve information whenever we need it, but what happens to our natural ability to remember if we do not use it? The calculator shattered our mental arithmetic, the spellchecker ruined our capability to spell correctly, e mail has dismissed our letter writing and texting has stunted our expression. Research has shown that the internet and use of search engines has made us lazy, it has degraded our mental ability. When we rely on the internet as an external memory source, we store less in our brain – this has a negative effect on our quality of thoughts and analysis.

http://sictindia.org/attachments/Image/ghostface.jpg [Accessed on 01/11/2011]






Betsy Sparrow and her colleagues at Columbia University conducted various experiments, the result was that if people know they can find information out by using technology (internet) they will memorize less of the information and more of how to find the information.  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/fac-bios/SparrowB/faculty.html [Accessed on 23.0.2011]

Every time we recall a memory we are re processing and editing it, therefore the memory is not fixed, it is always changing. The positive aspect here is that Technology can be used to capture the correct information; our memories may be out of date or incorrect. It allows us to store facts that make history, to accumulate information for future generations.

"We are drowning in data while starving for wisdom" - E.O. Wilson's

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/15/internet-brain-neuroscience-debate [Accessed on 05.10.11]

The above quote raises many questions, is technology enlightening and allowing us to grow, or diminishing and setting us personal limitations? The general outlook is that technology gives rise to an ‘interconnected’ world in which communication, intelligence and information is made accessible. On the contrary, is technology – the internet, isolating individuals and giving people a false sense of identity and making people dependant on social mefia?

The World Wide Web opens up a sphere of information, but the line between fact and fiction is somewhat blurred. There is too much information ‘out there’ and it is impossible to control, this is somewhat liberating but it is also dangerous to our discretion. The internet allows people to share their views on things, whether it is politics or simply a product/service, it gives us a voice.

The Internet makes information readily available to anyone, access to libraries or to an education is no longer required; people are able to do their own research by the click of a mouse.

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” – -Richard Foreman

Technology influences our sense of distance, because it enables communication to happen at a high speed across the globe. This can be an advantage in the sense that we now do not have to travel or write letters to keep in contact; but in my opinion, it is a type of illusion. Let me use Facebook as an example, it has become a world phenomenon and people are spending the majority of their time online. A person may have hundreds of ‘friends’ on Facebook but when you ‘communicate’ online, you are essentially alone. Technology can also be seen as dehumanising, our senses are constantly being stimulated by technology; for example, television has the power to evoke emotions, alter our thinking and manipulate our minds. The great spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle argues that television has the ability to programme our minds; states that whilst watching television our minds our unconscious and we are no long thinking but absorbing information, this is why the advertising industry pays so much money to place adverts on TV, so that they can hack into our unconscious minds.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=creativity&um=1 [Accessed on 17.10.11]

Technology is changing the way learn, think and live, it is essentially shaping our lives and will have huge impact on the future. Technology also has an impact on culture and is somewhat a culture its self; this quote describes the changes taking place over the centuries.

‘’19th century culture was defined by the novel, 20th century by the cinema, the culture of the 21st century will be defined by the interface’’ - Aaron Koblin

Does this assumption mean that the future lies in digital media? And that personal communication will become obsolete?


I disagree, we need to use and not be used by technology, and yes it will have a positive impact on our lives but only if we find the correct balance between virtual reality and reality its self. The most successful events industries find this balance; they use technology as a means of marketing and data collection. They use creativity to unleash market potential by designing promotional material, websites and generating innovative ideas for the event. An events company will also use culture in order to identify and attract their audience; this can be done by creating themes, specific music genres and by culturally branding the event. The industry is concerned with stimulating the senses in order to create an experience; it focuses on engaging people in a personal way to create memories and experiences, people want to feel a part of something, and events have the power to do this.

Is there a link between Culture and Creativity?

In my opinion, there is direct link between culture and creativity because people create their own culture which then influenced other people of that culture. We can identify different cultures in today’s world by shared beliefs, languages and rituals to name the few; people create culture in order to enhance their emotional connection with others and their environment, it gives them a sense of identity and purpose. Creativity is the driving force behind culture; people of the same culture tend to like the same category of music, art, literature and so on.  Creativity is shaped and stimulated by our surroundings, the culture we live in. Here we can identify that creativity and culture have a direct link and effect on each other; without creativity, there would be no culture, and vice versa.

Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=creativity&um=1 [Accessed on 17.10.11]

 Creativity unleashes the ability to think beyond the conventional norms, and allows us to use our imaginations in different ways. Creativity is strongly associated with divergent thinking, the ability to think out of the box, but a thought alone is not enough. Innovation is the process whereby a person begins to develop the creative idea and bring it to life and the ‘success’ of the idea is measured by the value of final product or service.

http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/creativityletters.jpg  [Accessed on 11/.10.11]

Modern education systems teach people to think and work logically in conventional manor, however to move forward we need a fresh understanding and outlook on intelligence. We think about the world in through our senses and the experience we gain through using these senses. The world is full of creative inventions such as music, art, and design. All of the creativity we see in today’s world ascended from an innovative thought, which once acted on then expanded into reality. Creativity is thus applied imagination.


 The rapid growth and advancement of technology has an impact on the way execute creativity, it has introduced another dimension of creativity, the ability to use technology to project out mental ideas. For example using computer programmes to design visual images, cameras to capture moments, archives to store our findings. However, technology could either amplify creativity or aggravate it by making us lethargic and unable to think without using a search engine.

‘’The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science’’ – Albert Einstein

The Different Theories of Intelligence - Howard Gardener

In modern society ‘creative’ people can be viewed as ‘drop outs’ because creativity and intelligence are seen as opposite ends of the spectrum, for example, the arts and science. I think is a misconception because in fact, creativity stems from human intelligence *1 some people may be more gifted in certain areas of creativity but we all possess the ability to be creative. Education is directly associated with the economy, it focuses on preparing individuals for capitalist machine and as a result, most non-academic and creative subjects are seen as non-valuable. The rationalist tradition creates a barrier between intellect and creativity, in my opinion and through conducted research; this is in fact a distorted view.

"Intelligence is a bio psychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture" – Howard Gardener

The theory of multiple intelligences is a model that differentiates intelligences and places them in categories; this theory was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. This model was created in order to allow people to understand what they were best at and harness there intellectual ability; it allowed people to understand how their mind worked. Gardener split intelligence into eight sections.

Logical-mathematic: This area is to do with logic and problem solving, it is the ability to mentally process problems and equations; before Gardener created the MI theory this type of intelligence was considered the most valued intellectual ability in which Western culture classed as essential.

Spatial Intelligence is our ability to comprehend images and shapes in three dimensions, people with a high spatial intelligence are usually very good at puzzles, art and design. It is the art of visualisation.

The essential elements of bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence are the control of ones bodily motions, with this type of intelligence people can use their ‘muscle memory’ to use their body as a tool, i.e. preforming arts. It is also to do with the ability to handle objects skilfully and adapt the ability to train muscles so some responses become like reflexes.

Musical intelligence is the capacity to recognise different sounds and also create music by manipulation of the sounds, rhythms and tones. They are highly sensitive towards sounds and can understand how they work together to create melodies. Interpersonal skills is to do with interaction with other human beings, people who score high in this area are often extroverts. These people often excel in the work place because of their ability to empathise and connect with other people, they tend to work in groups and enjoy verbal communication. Intrapersonal is the opposite, these people are often introverted and work better alone, they have a good understanding of themselves and how they work. Naturalistic is to do with our surroundings, the ability to relate to nature.
http://www.howardgardner.com/ [Accessed on 11/10/11]

http://www.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/creativity_indsutry_creative_art_psfk.jpg [Accessed on 11/10/11]

Culture plays a role in nurturing these intelligences; some cultures place a high value on the ability to perform certain tasks and therefore ensure that people become highly skilled in those areas. Cultural surroundings aids in shaping people, it assists in developing certain areas of intelligence.
Gardener’s theory gives a broader understanding of intelligence; it shows that everyone is intelligent in their own way if their learning environment is suited to their ability. Although there is no scientific evidence to support his theory, I think it is helpful in the sense that we can use his theory to identify and enhance our own intelligences.