Social media has fundamentally altered how our society is structured. However, criticisms of the relationship between technology and cloud computing + write for us social media have become so common that we naturally ignore them. However, ignoring these criticisms can be just as harmful.
It is our dependence on innovation to show up on the planet that is disturbing. Instead of living in the moment, we are living through our phones. We ultimately stop living our lives because we want to record them. Worst of all, we tend to question technology less and less as we become more reliant on it. We give up our privacy, change who we are, fall into consumerism, and become completely reliant on technology.
We must be mindful of how we interact with technology and the code of ethics that should guide our interactions as it becomes more integrated into our everyday lives. However, we need to turn to ontology first before we can behave normatively.
What is technology all about?
Martin Heidegger, a philosopher, popularized this issue with his essay “The Question Concerning Technology.” Heidegger takes on the philosophical challenge of determining the nature of technology and, by Software Development Cost extension, the state of Being-in-the-World in this work. The condition of revealing Truth is seeing things as they are and allowing them to appear as they are. However, Heidegger adds the primordial phenomenon of Truth, which states that the only way we can comprehend our authentic Being is by revealing the world. The realization that our existential identity is integrated with the world is referred to as “Being-in-the-world.”
“We are asking questions about technology in order to show how we relate to its essence.”
Heidegger discusses the two fundamental ways in which technology is understood: 1.) as a way to achieve a goal, and 2) as a human endeavor. This, according to Heidegger, is correct; However, the essence of technology cannot be captured by these broad understandings. The universal quality of something is its essence. Without getting too deep into metaphysics, there is a difference between what something is and what it does. While the fundamentals of technology are the same across all technologies, their specific applications vary. Technology is more than just an activity or a means to an end. It alters our perspective on the world and, as a result, our relationship to it. Similarly, technology is not a neutral entity. Its duties reflect our human values. What we do with it reveals a lot about us. Technology is a reflection of human nature, just as nuclear weapons are a symbol of human violence.
The revelation of substance is critical in light of the fact that understanding what something is decides the manner in which we use it and the manner in which we ought to utilize it. Heidegger says that the embodiment of innovation is enframing. According to Heidegger, “enframing is the gathering together that belongs to that setting-upon which sets upon man and puts him in position to reveal the real, in the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve,” enframing is the process of framing a situation. 2 To gently rephrase Heidegger, enframing brings the world’s objects together and reorients us so that we comprehend what has been orderedly revealed to us. To put it plainly, innovation positions us to observe things as they uncover themselves in an arranged manner, so we can grasp them as assets for sometime in the future.
Furthermore, the word “setting-upon,” which comes from the German word “Stellen,” means “presenting;” the presence that makes people reveal themselves. The world is full of treasures that have been hidden and are just waiting for us to uncover them. The idea of enframing starts from the possibility that people expect to pull exact logical information from the world. As a result, it’s helpful to think of enframing as a “challenging claim” that forces us to put the pieces of the world together. Dasein, the subject of Being, is innately curious and seeks confirmation of its own existence.
Enframing occurs as a result of human-to-world interactions. Additionally, the term “standing-reserve” emerges as a result of enframing. Another Heideggerian term that refers to instrumentality is “standing-reserve.” In an effort to maintain order in the world, society reserves resources as “standing reserves,” putting them aside for future use. We put things together and arrange them, but if we aren’t careful, we might get so caught up in organizing the world that we end up treating everything as just a means to an end. Therefore, enframing is not always undesirable; it’s simply a likely risk. When we adopt an instrumental mindset and end up destroying the world, it becomes dangerous. We squander natural resources without taking into account the harm we cause to the environment as a result.
“Enframing, as a challenging-forth into ordering, send into a way of revealing… All revealing comes out of the open,”
The Question Concerning Technology, by Heidegger, pages 24-25 Revealing is the process by which something becomes real. the manner in which an event unfolds at its own time and place. Powerful is the Heideggerian idea of revealing. According to Heidegger, technology is a method of revealing: Innovation comes to presence in the domain where uncovering and unconcealment occur, where alētheia, truth, occurs.” 4 As a result, technology reveals the world’s Truth, and revealing is when something gives or displays itself.
However, not all technologies are alike; Consequently, not all revealing is alike. Older and newer technologies are not the same. Phones are now more than just a means of communication; they also carry the tools we need to control our being. Phones make hiding harder. When we take a picture, we alter the content of the picture, transforming the subject into the object. When we edit photos in order to generate fake praise, we treat ourselves as objects. We face new challenges each time a new technology comes out, necessitating a reevaluation of our ethics. The transition from the traditional house phone to mobile phones, and now to smartphones, all present unique challenges.
The world’s truth is revealed by technology. Additionally, contemporary technology reveals that we are not living in our world. We are living in a carefully developed oppressed world, our reality just present through online entertainment. We must break more than just a bad habit of using social media; This is a world from which we must flee.
“Enframing does not just put man in danger in his relationship to himself and everything else…They no longer even let their own fundamental characteristic, namely this revealing as such, appear.”
70% of adults in the United States say they use Facebook on a daily basis. Additionally, 59% of adults who use Instagram report using it on a daily basis. Taking into account that 72% of the public purposes some sort of virtual entertainment, our general public is living in a computerized reality. 5 The fact that people use social media from a young age is even more concerning. 72% of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 use Instagram, while 51% use Facebook, according to a survey. 6 We are caught in a fake social existence where the seed of the cutting edge is planted and immersed. Sadly, their roots are buried in the ground like animal bones.
Our need for attention has been exposed by our desire for popularity. The fact that getting likes and followers is prioritized demonstrates that popularity is the digital world’s currency. Despite the fact that we continue to use it, social media has been linked to poor mental health. In order to conform to society’s ideal of perfection, photos and videos are altered and edited. Facetune “had been downloaded more than 20 million times in 2018 and had nearly 500,000 subscribers paying an average of $40 per year.” Facetune was Apple’s most downloaded paid app in 2017.” 7 The image we create is made up with a purpose, and that purpose is not to take care of our true self. The distortion of reality, or Truth, is facilitated in this way by modern technology like smartphones and social media. We are encouraged to change the way we look on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. We give up on who we are and become a standing reserve.
Zoom was used in place of our usual social interactions during the pandemic. However, even on Zoom, you can make changes to yourself, such as enhancing your appearance. If I have never seen you as you really are, have we ever met? We stoop to artificial levels of aesthetic criticism in a matter of milliseconds on dating apps. An act of objectification against the core of Being occurs with each swipe left or right. We judge others as resources to be utilized, according to our judgment. We treat one another like a bank of standing reserve, a means to an end.
Additionally, consumer society is fueled by social media. What were intended to be social and leisure channels have been taken over by consumerism. Instagram “models” and “influencers” are tools for businesses to make money because they sell products that don’t work and look fake. We are instructed to become an “insta-look-alike” if we want social capital. Through social media, brands promote individuality but only sell conformity, creating a false impression of uniqueness. Replicas of substanceless beings are made through social media. Our activity is a loop of mindless scrolling that goes on forever, leaving no room for us to think about who we really are. Instead of impart, we are looking for things that we think will make us prettier and hence more joyful. Capitalism clearly communicates: consume. We become standing-reserve as a result of capitalism.
At the point when we live under the front of separated pictures, we contort our actual stylish. When we strive to resemble the edited version of another person, how can we be ourselves? Realize that these flaws and imperfections are the hallmark of genuine existence. Additionally, we are destroying the very fabric of our Being in the World, as Heidegger would probably concur. We are treating each other and ourselves as a “standing reserve.”
