Have you ever felt so consumed by the web and mobile bubble that you’ve almost forgotten what it is like being outside?

As a typical representative of the so-called Generation Y, I am not old enough to remember what exactly it was like to write your university assignments by hand or to go through piles of paper and feel the smell of the old ink. Actually, when I moved to England, I was very enthusiastic about keeping an, what we called, ‘old-fashioned’ communication by post with my best friend. Needless to say that it didn’t go very well. We just didn’t have the time and patience to write, send and wait like our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had all been doing just fine. Did they have more time than us? I don’t think so.

The above example perfectly illustrates the ability of the digital world to modify us quite drastically and pretty quickly. It should be noted that I am not saying that we have learned to adapt to the new technology. I am saying that we are internally changed by it.

In fact, research shows that technology can affect us on a neuropsychological level. As Professor Susan Greenfield from Oxford University states:

“Electronic devices have an impact on the micro-cellular structure and complex biochemistry of our brains. And that, in turn, affects our personality, our behaviour and our characteristics”

Being born in a particular point of history makes us the people who we are now. This point of history being highly technological on one hand, makes our lives easier and gives us a lot of clarity (try to imagine what it was like when the ultrasound scan wasn’t invented, for example, and you’ll get what I mean). On the other hand, we are more confused than our ancestors had ever been in their lives.

Friends are considered to be our second biggest influence after our families. What I came to realise though is that for me this is the digital era I live in. And here I am not talking so much about my worldview, but about my skills and abilities. My communication, my patience, my attention span, my decision-making and even my judgments about certain situations are affected by the three Ws that almost seem coded into my DNA. The question that I keep going back to though, is: Is digital stopping our evolution and stealing our happiness? Well, this blog is my attempt to answer this question.

What I believe in nevertheless, is that our relationship with technology is mutually constructive.

We can influence the digital world in the same way it can influence us, and getting real is the key. Putting the real human beings, with their real emotions, needs and reactions first is crucial for making progress and not losing ourselves. When we start using technology for more meaningful things than simply “substitutes for impossible tasks”, when we start inventing for the real, deep, long-term benefit of the digital users – that’s when things will get better.

“We often use technology to save time, but increasingly, it either takes the saved time along with it, or makes the saved time less present, intimate and rich. I worry that the closer the world gets to our fingertips, the further it gets from our hearts. It’s not an either/or situation – being “anti-technology” is perhaps the only thing more foolish than being unquestioningly “pro-technology” – but a question of balance that our lives hang upon” – Jonathan Safran Foer

What has always been bothering me is the lack of ethics, sincerity and understanding when it comes to digital. But all these negative practices are fueled by humans, not by machines. Behind every digital business that trades with our information and invades our privacy stands a human being just like you and me. And here is where the topic becomes complicated. This makes us ask ourselves whether the real danger to humanity are not the machines but the humans themselves. However, it also proves that we are at the centre of everything and change starts with us.

Let’s find the balance!