edithhopegardenjournal

Digital tech and platform firms are rapidly losing the Silicon Valley naiveté that has characterized their activities in the past 20 years. Billions of dollars of fines and lawsuit losses for abuse of dominant positions, misuse of personal data, workplace harassment, securities violations and a host of other offenses are shaking their world. Company leaders appear aghast and paralyzed by the developments, often unable to comprehend and effectively adjust to the forces of regulation and litigation that are acting on them globally, but especially in Europe and North America. A good part of their bewilderment is due to blind spots in their perceptions of themselves and the place of digital firms in society.   For two decades their founders, the companies themselves and digital gatherings and conventions have repeated the mantra that they are revolutionary, different, and old rules don’t apply.   They have argued that digital tech frees users and firms from the constraints of nati...

Social media have now permeated all aspects of life. They have become part of our interactions with family, friends, and our communities. They have been integrated with work and commerce, dating and sex , health and well-being , information gathering, and spirituality. It is an appropriate time to reflect on the extent to which they fulfil their promise improve human interactions and community. Because of their communicative abilities, their institutional arrangement, and the ways we use them, social media produce effects and create issues that cannot be dismissed and ignored. Contemporary events and research are revealing significant effects of social media and the issues they pose for society. The critical issues surrounding social media use and policy efforts involve authenticity of the communication, artificiality of community, individual behavioral and cognitive issues, narcissistic and dangerous behaviors, and anonymity and anti-social behavior. Authenticity of the communic...