The limits of uncritically embracing digitalisation

It is not possible to fully connect to others in online meeting rooms, maybe it is time for us to go back to our physical meeting days. Photo: Collected

The practice of working from home has reinforced the new culture of living longer hours in the digital space. A section of corporate bosses and some educational institutions seem happy about continued or, in some cases, enhanced activities in the digital space. 

At this point, whether joys have disappeared from life during the pandemic can be food for thought for many. Virtual reality has its limits, which have been exposed in the form of mental health problems and working people's communication deficiencies.

Old school boys and girls have turned nostalgic about the lost days. Some of them find themselves out of their depth when the savvy young Turks attempt to find everything – from buying to selling, working to relaxing, reading to talking, from watching a video to uploading private information – in a world dictated by algorithms. Isn't living minus human touch a bit pale?

For old-timers, life has become a tad boring and, more importantly, it is humanly impossible to properly connect to others in online meeting rooms, or even to serve common purposes. 

In a recent in-person conference in Dhaka, top bankers and chief executive officers from around the world shared one common realisation: face-to-face meetings are still important in the age of digital connectivity. 

To address critical issues that thwart prosperity, they emphasised on phygitalisation - the ability to build customer experiences that meld the best aspects of the digital and physical worlds. 
 
Another concern, as expressed by a gentleman working in the global financial sector, is that growth has created inequality. In fact, the disparity has widened during the pandemic, thanks to the dominance of a few sectors such as tech, energy, food and medicine and influential individuals like Tesla's Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Digitisation has undoubtedly favoured the advantageous despite its promises to empower the unseen billions. However, its unforeseen 'consequences' can be addressed, if not reversed, should there be political will to correct the situation.

The digital space is not free from a fight between the evil mind and conscience. Those who once believed digitisation would remove all ills, including corruption and ensure a just atmosphere, have proven to be too naïve.

How can we expect that a powerful man or woman with digital data and infrastructure in his/her possession with authority to (mis-)use them, would act judiciously? 

Embracing digitisation only technologically is tantamount to living a contemporary life devoid of wisdom and understanding of the past. This is what the followers of this trend fail to understand, which keeps them and others poor in almost all respects. 

The key group of victims are the greedy eyes that targeted them. Today's children are not just getting addicted to gadgets; they are suffering from a lack of joy, which can only be derived from meeting friends and near and dear ones.

The Covid-19 pandemic might be considered a climax of digital-based life, but it also proved digitisation is not the end of history.

Khawaza Main Uddin. Sketch: TBS

Khawaza Main Uddin is a journalist and op-ed writer. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.