Edward Snowden, Mark Zuckerberg, Logan Paul: Who is responsible for our digital future?

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• Should Snowden have done more to ensure our digital freedoms?

He is currently on temporary asylum in Russia after having exposed the extent of global surveillance conducted by governments throughout the world. His asylum with a state that is not known for its democracy expires in 2020, at a time when Trump and Putin will likely become best friends given the current trajectory.

• Should Zuckerberg have done more to secure our data and stop fake news?

After a small dip in Facebook share prices following the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018, he is sitting on a nice 14% profit from the pre-scandal prices. Interestingly, Facebook stock price has gone up almost 75% since the 2016 elections and the fake news scandals surrounding it (FB stands at ~USD209 as of this writing).

• Should Logan Paul have done more to provide quality content?

Ever since uploading a video of a deceased body in Japan's infamous 'suicide forest' at the end of 2017, he is still earning millions from his 17 million strong subscriber base on YouTube. More surprisingly, this subscriber base is actually growing by the thousands everyday.

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Digital empowerment's biggest obstacle

The digital future which we are barreling towards is one of convenience and comfort at the expense of some vague idea about our rights and freedoms. For much of this development process, we have been blindfolded and lead by the hand, trusting and hoping that there will be a happy ending at the end of this movie. This in essence captures the biggest obstacle in our move towards digital empowerment: are we willing to sacrifice our popcorn for a role in this movie? In other words, are we really willing to take responsibility for the future that we want to live in?

Society as a whole is starting to wake up to the consequences of having a digital identity but given the many years of 'free data' which companies have been extracting from individuals in the past, participation in many of these platforms is not an optional one. To be clear, this relationship is a mutual one as providing these companies with our data enables them to develop more personalized services and create products which we didn't know we needed. As such, disrupting this free data pipeline does not only mean consequences for the companies but also wrecks havoc to our daily routines.

Moving forward, there will be new technologies which will put more power in the hands of the people but at the same time, it is only if we are willing to take on more responsibility. Take for example the rise of decentralized technologies such as cryptocurrencies, it is a promising technology but how many people would rather keep their tokens on centralized exchanges than be responsible for their own keys. Even for technologies such as the internet, how many of us actually takes the time to read the T&Cs for every website to better understand how our data is being used. The question then is how can we make this relationship a healthy one where we can still benefit from the convenience of institutions but also have proper checks and balances that holds them accountable? As with all relationships, it's a lot of give and take and the willingness to invest in it from both sides.

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How did we get here?

Modern technology has become so specialized that it take years of study just to understand the fundamentals. How many people actually know the difference between all the buzzwords floating around at the moment: Cloud Computing vs Internet-of-Things, Artificial Intelligence vs Machine Learning, Bitcoin vs Blockchain. If a society which can recite Game of Thrones lines does not understand these terms, what more to say the societies which are struggling to put food on the table everyday. This is not to be a killjoy (you should definitely watch GoT if you haven't) but rather to put things in perspective as 45% of the world has no internet and less than a fifth of global population have ever undergone tertiary education. As such, technological advancements are largely driven by a tiny minority of the world.

It also doesn't help that many of these technologies are so far abstracted from the physical world. Whereas previous generations were forced to consider the effects of their actions as the consequences were local and visible, the consequences of our online actions are now global in scope resulting in the disinhibition or our actions. There are less morals, value or feelings involved when we don't know what were the consequences of our actions or who it affected. It is one of the reasons why we are comfortable with sharing so much information with strangers and also why company executives can so easily make decisions which affect the livelihoods of their users.

This psychological gap coupled with the knowledge divide is what overwhelms many people resulting in the current situation where we hope companies will act in our best interest or at least be regulated by the government. Overlooking the fact that, worldwide, governmental trust is already low, one problem with relying on regulations is that by nature, it can never keep up with innovation. The pace and impact of modern technologies coupled with the premiums which tech employees get paid now effectively means that it is the tech industry dictating our future. Trust in institutions is critical to how society functions but when there is such a power imbalance and no alternatives, it takes very little for the relationship to become parasitical.

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Corporate vs personal responsibility

All of this is not to relieve institutions of their social responsibilities but rather to realize the fact that we also have an important part to make this relationship truly mutually beneficial. Society would rather place the line of responsibility as close as possible to corporations as it is always easier to put the blame on a big faceless entity then start questioning our own actions. Blaming something or someone else is human nature, as can be inferred through the first thing that comes out from your mouth when you stub your toe on a table.

Critically, placing all the responsibility with institutions essentially declares that large swaths of the population are too dumb or helpless to do anything for themselves. Apart from the implications this would have on freedom of choice, it also leads to an even more dire situation where many people believe institutions are responsible for their quality of life:

• Spending too much time or getting too distracted by your phone? Get Apple to introduce new tools so that you can manage your own time.
• Getting all riled up over that piece of news which appears in your feed? Get Facebook to improve their fake news detecting algorithms.
• Feeling tired and lethargic due to lack of sleep? One more game of PUBG or one more episode of Stranger Things will energize me.

Of course institutions should help us address these issues through eliminating the use of dark designs and banning malicious actors, but at the end of the day, who is ultimately the one who should decide: when your phone use becomes a waste of time; what types of content you want to see; how tired your body is. This cycle is definitely hard to escape and that is why playing the victim is easier. It is easier to try a new app and hope it works rather than putting your phone away, it is easier to scream 'fake news' and label people as idiots than taking the time to research and keep our emotions in check, and it is easier to sit there passively with auto-play then to switch off the console.

In the internet, news go from one website to another without any control, and change the original context, in general, not mentioning the source. When the legend is more interesting than the reality, everyone prefers the legend! - Maggiolini

It is easier coming up with excuses because overcoming the obstacle is scary as it involves investing a lot of work at the personal level. It takes a lot of emotional labor to overcome our own biases in order to take effective action. It is difficult because at the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves why do I need to work so hard to be happy?

Whether we like it or not, responsibility is not something that can be avoided as long as we're benefiting from being a part of society. This does not only apply to the tech industry but to society as a whole. How many of us have voted for a politician based upon a few populist ideals rather than really understanding the consequences of such actions. Our life of comfort has resulted in many of us taking the things around us for granted. Like any democracy, our usage of technologies is not a given. It requires us to invest in it and not only cherry-pick the parts that we like best.

The line between corporate and personal responsibility is not a clearly defined one but what is clear is that responsibility will have to come from both sides. Rather than playing the victim, we need to start educating ourselves and taking more responsibility of our digital identities. With such a change in mindset, society will gravitate towards companies whose goals ultimately aligns with ours rather than the current monopolistic situation.

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A tech utopia?

We like to believe that human ingenuity will trump all our problems, solving everything through new innovative technologies. While technology does provide increasingly effective solutions to overcome technical complexities, it also creates new challenges around ethical and social issues which are more serious and difficult to solve. Technology is not neutral but rather it enshrines a vision and reflects the worldview of its creator.

A lot of these problems are systematic but we still have to make a stand at the individual level before society as a whole will start to change. The best thing that you can do for society is to start taking responsibility for your own digital identity. Only then will the playing field between individuals and the technology industry be more even, allowing us to have more meaningful conversations around the technologies which society really needs.

We might not be able to control the circumstances surrounding us but we are definitely in control of how we respond to these circumstances. After all, the foundation of personal development is having the power to influence the outcome of your life. It might not be the story you wanted to be a part of but all great stories start with the heroes stepping outside their comfort zone.

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Thanks for reading. I would love to know your thoughts so please feel free to drop a comment. :)