The future is digital

I think Facebook is making the right choice to focus on group communication rather than having an open profile where you share stuff with everyone. One thing I hate dearly with all my heart on Twitter is the constant fighting. Everyone has opinions but not everyone knows of what they’re talking about. You just post one thought and a lot of people feel engaged to react and to shit all over you. This is making me really sick and I do think about leaving Twitter as well a lot. But …

I am working in a digital agency. The money I earn I do get from consulting clients. Big topics like digital transformation, business strategy and how to express yourself or your company on social media are frequent topics I need to address. So how valuable are my thoughts on these topics when I’m not using them? I have a hard time answering that question for myself. Because also more often than not I can use my profession as an excuse to actively look at the screen.

To get back to my original point about the devastating conversations you can have on social media, I have to say that it is really refreshing for your mind and soul to just cut the crap and move away from it for some time. It helps you to focus and it helps you to remind yourself of what’s really important in your life. It can be family, it can be hobbies or enjoying nature – whatever it is, it’s truly better than raging on Twitter or the like.

But isn’t there a different way to fix this? Isn’t there a way to remind people that they’re not talking to computers but to real humans on the other end? I am happy that we’re doing some projects at diesdas that are trying to fix this, like Europe talks – a project from Zeit Online that brings people with different political opinions together to talk, either via video chat or in person. We must get people back to talking to each other, to look each other in the eyes, that is the only way I can think of to get rid of this anger.

The future is digital and we need to be mindful shaping it.

The world seems just too complex for a lot of minds these days. That’s why I’m in favor of Facebook’s approach (although I’m not using it) to break down complexity and focus on groups and individuals rather than the entire world you could be talking too. So yeah, maybe we need to be a little more private, cautious and mindful with the things we share, with the thoughts we’re having and maybe we need to make the world less complex for us to not become crazy in the end. It’s not just exciting these days to be a designer but also a burden of responsibility because we are the ones shaping the world right now. May it be with software or tools. The future is digital and we need to be mindful shaping it.