The ethics of digital well-being deals with emerging issues related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), that powers algorithms.
Algorithms influence consumer attitude and behavior, and affects the values of modern culture through social media. Digital ethics impacts people’s mental health, their work, and our moral reasoning. Young people who are exposed to the internet can suffer emotionally due to neuroplasticity. A young mind that is not yet fully developed may be a cause of concern in terms of stress as a result of a toxic digital environment.
The toxic culture in the internet may be related to the influence of fake information, cancel culture, and the lack of understanding of such things as user-autonomy. The internet is not a safe place. For example, young adults can wrongly equate well-being or self-affirmation to “likes” or “reactions”. While these may have a positive role in terms of one’s sense of personal confidence, more people are actually suffering from a lack of self-esteem because of the toxic environment in the internet.
While digital technologies can help in empowering human beings to make them more self-reliant in terms of self-discovery and the expansion of knowledge, it is also the case that such assistive ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) can result to personal anxiety and depression. Even if schools say that ICTs are critical to education in the new normal, nothing replaces the value of in-person interaction when it comes to authentic learning. The social environment as well as the physical space provided by schools help in terms of grasping the meaning of ideas.
When it comes to work, employees today are subjected to constant monitoring. The emphasis on outcomes means that identity and self-creativity are a secondary concern for employers. The main purpose of measuring people’s abilities is to be able to manage them. The over-reliance on digital tools takes away important person-to-person encounters and the value of employee engagement. People have feelings. They are not numbers. Monitoring in the workplace tends to overlook the personal qualities of human persons.
Some elements related to professional growth like passion and persistence, are non-quantifiable. There are virtues that are communicative, for instance, honesty, fidelity, and empathy, in which social media may play an important role, though not necessary, since social media is also a venue for conflicts, veiled threats, and excessive non-sense. Persons are moral agents as well as moral patients. In the end, computers are nothing but tools that can help us adapt to the modern age. But there is no way to digitalize the moral decision-making process.
Automation is crucial, however, in the area of good governance. Computerizations helps in attaining and maintaining transparency. The reason for automation is the general lack of trustworthiness in government transactions due to a persistent culture of corruption. People can easily manipulate manual systems which in turn will affect the quality of service rendered to citizens. Despite the advances in the science of machine learning, there is no fool-proof system. We can only rely on the moral character of people.
Fake news is the public enemy number one in today’s digital age. Digitalization has allowed the easy twisting around one’s little finger to spin any information that can result to mass deception and consequentially, the assassination of human character and in the long run, the failure of governments. The use of the machination reinforces the deliberate acts of others to control the political environment. Social media played a vital role in the Arab Spring that helped topple dictatorial regimes. But it is a double-edged sword. When the state wants to manipulate the mindset of voters, social media becomes a dangerous tool that impedes the whole democratic process.
Social media platforms are not created to promote social justice or democracy in the first place. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are business enterprises. These are meant to profit from people. In using an app, for instance, user-control is critical. In the digital age, people are more concerned about their image that who they really are as persons. Digital literacy as well as ethics in social media matters. It is always within our power as humans to choose only those things that we find meaningful and worth doing.
