Publish at October 30 2024 Updated October 30 2024
Social networks monopolize our presence (2.5 hours a day on average), and virtual reality headsets will soon do the same if they haven't already, not to mention the time we spend behind our screens checking our e-mails and other digital activities. In all cases, we can connect to active communities, usually human, but seasoned with a little or a lot of artificial intelligence, sometimes to the point of replacing humans.
The big difference with the previous era of sitting in front of the TV, a computer screen or a book is the integrated social network. You don't have to go outside to interact - you're already there. Better still, we're sure to find those we're looking for or with whom we'll have the most affinity, in principle. But to what extent does this affect our presence in public spaces and in real interaction?
According to TomTom's Traffic Congestion Index (1, 2), based on GPS data from vehicles, congestion is getting worse worldwide. But as long as the population grows, along with the number of cars (1.4 billion cars and more than 50 million new cars added every year (3,4)), and cities become denser, congestion is bound to increase. The same reasoning applies to physical presence in public places: it could increase, but if it increases less quickly than the population, then the index of individual public presence decreases.
If we look at data on attendance at bars, restaurants and cinemas (5,6,7), we see a decline after the post-pandemic recovery. This decline can be attributed to inflation and tighter leisure budgets. Park attendance (8) boomed during the pandemic, but has since fallen back. This is much less dependent on inflation. Are we going out less frequently? Apparently so, as virtual worlds offer many attractions.
Schoolyard activity has changed, but still seems very active. A better indicator would be young people's physical condition, which is declining year on year. This cannot be attributed to network use alone, but rather to a combination of factors limiting opportunities for physical activity.
The effects on mental equilibrium are correlated with the intensity of use of networks and virtual worlds, but here again it is difficult to determine whether it is the intense use of networks or the type of use that is the determining factor. One-dimensional, prolonged and highly algorithmic interactions are very different from human, varied and friendly interactions. What's certain is that this kind of one-dimensional activity is essentially found in the digital world (9,10,11).
On the other hand, the use of A.I. leads to a reduction in participation and intellectual effort, as students themselves admit! (12)
Mobile devices are frequently, if not always, present in public spaces. We use them to find our way around, to listen to music or podcasts, to communicate, to take or give information, to take photos or notes, and so on. We used to carry out most of these activities analogically, except when it came to communicating: we used to communicate with those around us; those who talked to themselves seem odd, to say the least. Not any more.
The quality of our presence is sucked away by "social" networks. We remain physically present, but not mentally, as many teachers can observe in their classes. The social fabric is slowly being unravelled and recomposed in a different way on the Internet, by means of algorithms. The orientations and structures of these networks are necessarily driven by economic and political interests quite different from those of the users, even if the latter choose their preferences.
The result is a loss of social control in favor of the major networks, a loss that can be countered by restricting the use of mobile devices to environments dedicated to activities requiring our presence, such as school or active public places. Already forbidden when driving a vehicle, and not recommended for pedestrians in town (13), what can we say about the mental equilibrium of the entire population, or the academic performance of students!
Illustration : Pixabay
References
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