Digital Environments Create The Possibility For...

What struck me about our final debate as an elective group was the positivity we collectively felt about the opportunities of a digital age. I felt that most of the statements we came up with could be argues either way to such an extent that to me they were morally neutral. Technology may be a sign of development but this in itself does not make it good or bad. Moral potentially is something inherent to humankind rather than something that may be applied to technology. Perhaps this is even useful in helping to determine where humanity and the 'real' world diverge from digitality and the virtual world. The moral responsibility lies with us rather than with 'the internet'. We certainly shouldn't blame technology for our moral failings but nor should we blindly walk forward believing all progress to be inherently good. In a way perhaps the more we progress, the more we should be on the moral lookout. And why did we look at everything with such positivism? It would be nice to think because we have not lost our youthful optimism. Perhaps it is because of the fact that we all chose this subject as an elective so one would surmise that we see it in a positive light. There is also the fact that we are the generation that grew up alongside the internet's decidedly utopian birth. The next generation, growing up with a very different context, might see things in a different way. Finally, if one labels everything as neutral, then things seem to become more boring - an impassable ambiguous boredom of confusion (a boredom reflected in one of Charles Leadbetter's 5 views of the internet).