The Crooked Mirror of Digitalization

Abstract

The article analyzes the contradictory effects of using digital, in particular, in­formation and communication technologies, arising at various social levels, from the transformation of social interaction practices to personal deviations. Rapid and drastic changes in the format of communication and methods of col­lecting and transmitting information, the ubiquity of special devices and high-tech devices indicate the digital media revolution that has taken place. How­ever, the expected sense of digital well-being that arises due to the acceleration of socio-economic processes and the expansion of the geography of contacts is being devalued due to the explosive spread of practices of mutual deception and manipulation, post-truth as a norm, targeted filtering and personally limited se­lection of information, mass invasions of private spaces, the heyday of cyber crime, cognitive degradation. The article highlights the anthropological prob­lems associated with digitalization, including the transformation of cognitive and communicative practices, the loss of skill and depth of reflection and empa­thy, paradoxical contradictions between the need to protect the privacy of per­sonal life and unprecedented publicity, constant presence in the social network and the desire to close in a safe “information cocoon” and others. The author notes the social problems caused by the spread and dependence of society on digital technologies: the devaluation of true information and its replacement with a purposefully constructed politically biased post-truth, the crisis in inter­generational relations, the dependence of satisfaction with digitalization de­pending on age, place of residence, availability of digital technologies. The study raises questions about the possibility and criteria of human-dimensional digital­ization, which makes it possible to harmoniously overcome these challenges and minimize the consequences of a technocentric worldview, and about the rea­sonable restriction of using and development of autonomous intelligent systems competing with humans.