Digital Nonviolence

Abstract

The digital age features titillating technologies, on-demand consumption, and information saturation. Technology has a unique capacity to offer a sense of greater connection, even as its actual workings may yield deeper forms of dislocation and alienation. While the marketing of new tech often highlights the potential for enhanced mobility, access, equity, and opportunity, the emerging evidence on the full range of impacts is beginning to tell another story. Among other challenges, there are nascent accounts of the effects technology is having on youth in particular, including disconcerting rates of anxiety, depression, and even aggression. Constant use of electronic devices may impair the ability to take responsibility for conduct, manage one’s emotions, and to develop strong bonds of empathy for others. Some tech pioneers have begun openly questioning their handiwork, and a larger coalition of former industry insiders has coalesced in order to confront the effects of social media and smartphones—with one even characterizing the dangers of technology saturation as a gathering “existential threat.”

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Randall Amster

Randall Amster is Director and Teaching Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at Georgetown University. His most recent book is Peace Ecology (2015), and he publishes widely on subjects including peacebuilding, the environment, social movements, and emerging technologies. E-mail: [email protected]