Social Shaping of Technology - Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?

            In her book, Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Baym seeks to highlight how interactivity of new digital media is leading to social anxieties among its users. Baym speaks of many different types of interactivity, but in relation to Katherine Pommerening she is talking about social interactivity, or the “ability of a medium to enable social interaction between groups or individuals” (p. 7). Baym discusses four theoretical perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and the social. These perspectives relate to the social anxieties that people feel when using social media and the Internet. One perspective that I feel describes these anxieties in our world today is the social shaping of technology. This is defined as “a mix of ‘affordances’ – the capabilities configurations of technological qualities enable – and the unexpected and emergent ways that people make use of those affordances” (p. 51).

            One aspect of the social shaping of technology is that each user creates different norms surrounding their usage of technology. This explains why Katherine feels like she needs hundreds of likes, comments and followers on her social media platforms, specifically Instagram, compared to a different teenage who perhaps feels like fifty likes, comments or followers is important. However, Katherine is not alone in her usage and anxieties of social media – she is just like any other teenager. She is always on her phone and feels like her entire world takes place through her apps, websites and text messages. Teenagers, and even children, are dependent upon technology to give them a sense of individuality and make them feel like a grown up. It is unfortunate that our world has come to this, that we feel like we will miss out on something if we are not always checking our phones. Social media has the potential to create new realities for people, however there is a point where social media becomes an extreme source of anxiety when people feel they are not “good enough” at using their phone, and its apps, to their potential.

            I chose to talk about the social shaping of technology because I feel it best describes our current social media situation and why anxiety is associated to it. We all produce our own set of norms for the usage of our social media platforms, and when those norms are not met we delete the photo, status or tweet so we do not ruin our online reputation. I would argue that everyone has felt some form of anxiety when it has come to posting on social media; maybe you have questioned if you should post that photo or wondered if your tweet was “funny enough”. Technology and society continue to be huge influences on each other, however nowadays we hardly notice this phenomenon because social media is something we engage in every day. We have become so engaged in social media that we do not take the time to think about how it affects our lives. 

            Prince Ea has an amazing video that showcases how social media, and more simply technologies, have impacted our lives in a profound way. He explains that by being online we are disconnecting ourselves from the world around us, specifically from the people we share the world with. I remember seeing this video come up on my Facebook page years ago and always think about it when reflecting upon the role of technology in our lives. Check it out here: Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?.