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74Big data, small whimper; 76Bitches, barbarians and narcissists: welcome!; 78Grand master moves; 80The revolution will not be digitised; 82Shoppers delight; 84The big switch-off
Its 7am and I wake up to my iPhone alerting me to five unread emails. It notifies me of my meeting at lunchtime, which prompts an offer for a half-priced coffee from the Starbucks near my work. Before Ive even ventured out from under the duvet, Ive checked my Twitter and Facebook accounts and have already fired off half a dozen emails to colleagues. Its just an average morning, but it appears I have immersed myself into the storyline of Orwells 1984. Whats more, I am certainly not alone in this unhealthy habit; more than 60% of us claim that we are highly addicted to our smartphones. We have become an Orwellian society in which technology encroaches upon every aspect of our personal lives at an individual, collective and societal level. Certainly there are many benefits to technological developments, but have we become brainwashed to turn a blind-eye to the downsides? The digital realm provides the Big Three (Google, Apple and Facebook) with a private viewing booth into our personal lives. Surely its only a matter of time before the negative aspects surface, prompting a countermovement where individuals will reject always-on technology and revert to more traditional and personal forms of communication? Right now that may seem hard to believe. But the reasons always-on technology will eventually be rejected by certain groups of society are threefold: its potential use as a surveillance mechanism, its ability to erode relationships and the issues it creates in the construction of selfidentity. These reasons can be seen in current societal behaviour, and have the

THE ARGUMENT

We live in a world where digital technology enables an always-on way of life, but how long will it be, ask Dan Bowers and Tom Wrigley, before we start to acknowledge the downsides of this and reject these technologies for more personal ways of building relationships?

potential to encourage a growing hostility that could eventually reach breaking point. So, to begin, how is always-on technology used as a surveillance tool, and why does it matter? When renowned philosopher Jeremy Bentham designed the Panopticon prison in the 18th century, he aimed to control and regulate the behaviour of inmates through the fear that they were always being watched. Similarly, advancements in GPS tracking within mobile devices, the ability to access detailed credit-rating reports at the press of a button and the rise of CCTV society have led people to feel as though their every move is being monitored. Forget the Big Brother house; the average inhabitant of Britain the most CCTV-surveilled state in Europe is caught on camera 70 times a day.

While the use of surveillance technology has led to the capture of criminals, there is a growing amount of unease about how easily society as a whole can be monitored at any moment. This could be seen in the media frenzy surrounding the British governments recent decision to allow police and security services to monitor the publics email and social media conversations (although not yet the actual content). Civil liberties campaigners also claim that such a manipulation of technology breaches the privacy of the law-abiding society as a whole, only serving to add to the tension surrounding the issue. So why do we continue to share our most private information and data via technology? Surely any disquiet about surveillance technology is over exaggerated? Yet social science researchers have discovered a gap between what people say and what they do regarding privacy of online information. When asked, individuals state that privacy is particularly important to them, and yet, when observed, their actions suggest otherwise. Perhaps, then, the fallout with technology will arise once society becomes increasingly aware that private lives have become a peep-show for those who wish to attend. If the public outrage surrounding the uncovering of numerous Facebook privacy issues is anything to go by, the future may look uncertain for such mass use of connected digital technologies. Aside from technologys role as a surveillance tool, advancements have also affected group relationships, both at a deeply personal level and in terms of everyday consumer interactions. There was a time when relationships between people were face-to-face or at least voiceto-voice. Now relationships are based on a series of emoticons, likes, re-tweets, pins and acronyms. Youre probably LOLing right now at the frequency with which you communicate with a friend over social media compared to the amount of face-toface interaction you have with them. The counter argument to this is that technological advancements have enabled more far reaching, frequent and sustainable relationships. They provide the ability to talk to, and see, ones friends and relatives over video calls and enable us to maintain more relationships, particularly over long distances. But is sending a Facebook notification enough to sustain a healthy relationship? By following the belief that it is, groups of people are changing the way that relationships are defined, established and maintained. People are encouraged to develop friendships with a greater number of people, but are these of the same quality as the traditional notion of a relationship that we are slowly losing?

Social media technology can mean that relationships are too shallow, intensified or even broken due to the ease of obtaining information online. The effect of technology goes beyond the social relationship sphere. In the retail space, consumers are increasingly faced with a one-way technology interaction in place of the human conversation that they would have previously had. By being presented with a screen or blank interface, individuals are denied from using the most deeply ingrained qualities that have allowed us to make connections and build relationships in the past. Once again, psychological research supports this claim. According to a new study by Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, the constant use and monitoring of social media can increase stress levels, ruin sleep patterns and degrade personal relationships. Smartphones, social media and other always-on technology is becoming the mistress in many relationships, and people have had enough. In fact, Facebook has been cited as a contributor to a third of marriage breakdowns, and smartphones are increasingly being accused of facilitating affairs. Relatively speaking it is early days for these unhealthy technology addictions, so one would expect the negative impacts to increase as always-on technology advances. But what about the way in which technology affects us as an individual? Aside from the obvious ways in which technology affects society and group relationships, surely it has a detrimental effect on the way in which we see ourselves, construct our own identity and understand our role within society? One just needs to browse through the reams of sociological and psychological academic papers around this subject to understand how modern technology encourages individuals to construct new and, often fake, selfidentities. And it is this construction of a false identity that will lead to possible rejection of technology in the near future. Academics claim that use of social media has led to a transition from expressing our true self-identities towards constructing faades that will please others, gain acceptance or ensure popularity. The disconnection between an individuals private and public self can be understood as an internal struggle and causes a greater amount of psychological difficulty than we fully understand.

Research into this field is emerging only slowly, but the signs are clearly there. The construction and maintenance of ones identity over social media and through other forms of technology can be linked to increased stress and anxiety levels, which in turn will affect how individuals interact within relationships and society as a whole. Recent research has found that 25% of people state that social networking makes them less satisfied with their own lives and, perhaps more worryingly, 45% of British children have stated that they are happier online than in reality. By drawing on this tension, Weapon7 stimulated a social media debate on behalf of the Turner-Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, whereby members of the public where invited to share with complete strangers a status update or photo in which they declared what they were actually thinking. By challenging the convention of using technology to please an audience or satisfy the public with a falsely constructed identity, the campaign acts as a beacon to the individuals who are increasingly growing dissatisfied with the manipulation of always-on technology to regulate individual identities. By looking at the growing popularity of blogs and sites dedicated to exposing the construction of social media identities, it looks as if this tension is becoming fraught. It is clear, therefore, that the negative impacts of advancements in technology must be acknowledged before it is too late. Owing to technologys ability to regulate society, groups of people and individuals at a psychological and physical level, there is an indication that the growing distrust of such technologies will continue in the future. As people increasingly discover that technologys reams of captured data exposes their private lives, warts and all, a hostility will emerge that will encourage the rejection of such technologies in favour of local, real pastimes and relationships. History tells us that the status quo doesnt remain the same for ever; all controlling forces eventually run their course, evolve or cease to exist. The question remains, however, whether these concerns about technology will be quashed or whether a counter-movement against digital connectedness will truly occur. Dan Bowers is head of planning and Tom Wrigley is junior planner at digital creative agency Weapon7, which works with brands such as Mercedes-Benz, DHL, Ubisoft, Xbox, Cadbury, Smart and Mind. weapon7.com

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