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What digital world gives us, and what it takes from us? – What’s the price of digitalization?

Association “Petit Philosophy”

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

At the beginning of the workshop, the teacher/facilitator briefly describes the course of the workshop to his students. He explains to the students the goal of our workshop and that goal can be summarized by the answers to these questions:

  • What is digitalization (to me)?
  • Do I live in a digital world?
  • Can I survive a day without my mobile phone?

LESSON OVERVIEW

This workshop is a classical Socratic dialogue with stimulus in the digital world. The main objectives of this workshop are:

  • show how the digital world has a lot of important outputs closely related to everyday life and life as a whole
  • show how important it is to try to be aware of the negative aspects of digitalization both in the world and in personal life
  • encourage students to use critical thinking skills in the digital world and understand the border between the digital and human aspects
  • to point out the importance of developing digital literacy

Materials that should be issued include:

  • Mobile phones (it would be good if every student could use his or her mobile phone with internet connection)
  • Computer
  • Projector
  • Paper, pencil and other necessary educational materials.

Learning outcomes that will be attained through workshop:

  • to understand digital and its role in the world and personal life
  • how to use digitalization wisely for a happier life
  • improve digital literacy

The estimated duration of the workshop is 55 minutes. Further on, there are parts of the workshop that can be used as separate activities. The entire workshop can be downloaded in PDF format.

LESSON BREAKDOWN – WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

Activity I. Digitalization in (my) world? (duration approximately 20 minutes)

Ask the class to split into two groups, i.e., half of the class can use their mobile devices and the internet, while the other half can’t use their mobile devices and the internet, only paper and pencil (and ‘head’). The teacher then gives them the task of designing a travel plan, a tourist tour around their local town or a nearby larger city. The plan should be as creative, fun and informative as possible. Some will immerse themselves in the role based on their experience, knowledge and imagination, while others (with the help of a mobile phone) will have all the agencies’ offers in the palm of their hand (and thus be to some extent perhaps at an advantage). Each group should briefly present what they have done and at the end vote on whose tourism plan is the best. In voting, they should try to be as objective as possible. This can give them an answer as to whether digitization helps creativity. In this way, they will examine for themselves the impact of the digital world on creativity.

After students read and compare what they have written, a teacher can start a small discussion about positive and negative aspects of using technology. It is good to encourage debate by asking questions, the teacher can also encourage students by sharing some personal examples.

Activity II. How do you feel, Digital World? (duration approximately 20 minutes)

Another (important) aspect of digitalization is the impact on relationships.

Give the students the task to first write on a piece of paper how much time they think they spend on their phone and how much of that time they spend surfing the internet, social networking, texting, calling, etc. Let them honestly write down how much of that time they spend:

  • researching and learning (for example the customs of tribes in South America)
  • having fun (playing games…)
  • communicating with other people
  • wasting away, watching and reading something that doesn’t really interest you? (scrolling)

Example answer: “I spend 5 hours on mobile/computer, 20 percent researching, 15 percent playing…”

Then the students would have the task of looking at the real statistics and comparing the results. Research shows that people, especially young people, spend significantly more time on their phones than they think they do.

After the task, the teacher will ask the students to fill in the table below, to encourage discussion. To the question “Why?” explain to them to try to answer with as simple a sentence as possible, for example: “I don’t have social media because I don’t think it makes sense.”

QuestionChoose your answerWhy? (one sentence answer)
Do you have a profile on a social network?YesNo 
Is it easier for you to communicate live or online?LiveOnline 
Is it easier to break up with another person live or online?LiveOnline 
Can we really get to know a person well online?YesNo 

Watching a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFHbruKEmw

Some additional questions that can help encourage students to discuss:

  • Do we have two personalities? One for the digital world, the other for the ‘real’ one?
  • Do we behave differently in the online world? Why is that so?
  • Have you ever had the feeling that ‘something is wrong’ with the person you are texting, through texting?

DISCUSSION CHECK

As this workshop is built completely on a set of discussions, next questions can be used to expand on the topics explored through the course of the workshop:

  • Does the digital world improve the dimensions of everyday life?
  • Is digitalization making our lives more difficult?
  • Can emotions be digitalized?
  • How does digitalization impact privacy?
  • Are you overly informed? How do you handle it?
  • How can we (correctly) deal with digitalization?
  • Does digitalization have a personality?
  • How much can we actually automate by digitalization and when should we stop?
  • Can digitalization establish a digital Berlin Wall?
  • What do you think about the quote:
    • You are growing up in a world where you will never be able to get lost

                                                                                      (unless you run out of battery).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

  • Online article “Stories From Experts About the Impact of Digital Life” [https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/07/03/stories-from-experts-about-the-impact-of-digital-life/]
  • Online article: “Digitalization is a lifestyle“ [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digitalization-lifestyle-fuad-shahin]
  • Online article: „The Impact of Digital Technologies“ [https://www.un.org/en/un75/impact-digital-technologies#:~:text=Today%2C%20digital%20technologies%20such%20as,traffic%20or%20paying%20a%20bill.]
  • Essay „The Impact of Digital Life on Society, A Sociological Perspective on Digitalization and Its Effects“ [https://www.grin.com/document/453828#:~:text=Online%20activities%20can%20affect%20truth,benefits%20in%20many%20different%20fields]
  • Paper: „Negative Effects of Digitalization on Society“ [https://theenterpriseworld.com/negative-effects-of-digitalization/]

1 Comment

  • Henry
    Posted September 19, 2023 at 3:22 am

    Hey very interesting blog!

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