Unintended impact of a digitalised world

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
August 1, 2018

LAST month this column (MyView July 11) cautioned about the emerging "screen addiction" affecting mostly the youth. Apparently, this is just the tip of the addiction iceberg. It can be worse off unless we know how to mitigate it. Moving from "innovate or die", we are now into "digitalise or die" – and many are eager to respond. For Malaysia, in the case of the former, it was Agensi Inovasi Malaysia that was dissolved recently. That vacuum is now filled by the latter in the form of the so-called Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ).

There is no better evidence than this to show that the "new" mantra is taking advantage of the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 bandwagon with little or no reservation.

What if there are unintended consequences arising from "blind-spots" that most are unable to detect with any amount of accuracy? Can this be the next long-term chaos of global significance as exemplified by issues of climate change and global warming that are now invariably linked to the neglect of earlier industrial revolutions some 300 years ago? In fact the crisis is engulfing the whole planet way pass provincial Europe where it first started in the late 1700s. Whether the "digitalise or die" mantra brings similar misfortunes depends on the depth of clarity of the issues at hand, let alone implementing them beyond the outmoded economic logic.

For example, as universities grapple with what is called "Curriculum 4.0," ironically they remain shackled by the archaic IR 1.0 paradigm, educationally speaking. This alone is a "mismatch" that would inevitably create "blind spots" of many unintended consequences.

It is a high price to pay for exercising less than critical understanding before going headlong in adopting "new" and untested lifestyles as dictated by the digital cyberspace.

An indication of this comes from the latest report on the so-called "digital lifestyles" that are impacting Malaysians in no uncertain terms.

Initiated by Limelight Networks, a global leader in digital content delivery, the report categorically recognises that mobile phones are an integral part of daily life that nearly all consumers surveyed are now confronted with as a "new" reality with potentially disturbing outcomes to say the least.

Titled as the State of Digital Lifestyles report, released last week, the verdict for Malaysia can be considered "damning". It is based on responses from 5,000 consumers (18 years and older) in 10 countries – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the US with Malaysia and India as the only two samples from the developing world. Respondents were chosen from those who had downloaded software or streamed online video or music during the month of June.

When asked about their interactions with the digital media and the impact of technology on their lives, some 48% of global consumers admitted they would not be able to stop using their mobile phones for even a single day. On this count, Malaysians make up the most – with almost 70% unable to do the same. Laptop and desktop computers are the second most integral technology that Malaysians (about 44%) cannot do without for even a day, compared with 33% of global respondents. In contrast, the Germans are the least attached to the devices, with the Japanese and Brits coming next. This revelation surprises many since Germany and Japan are among the most technologically innovative and advanced communities, yet are least "obsessed".

Indeed, all the eight industrialised countries (with the exception of Singapore) are below the global average. Why is that?

As to access online, Malaysians have no qualm when it comes to music, followed by movies or television shows and apps. However, they "are not fans of paid content" and are "least likely to shell out for online services". Similarly, for Singaporeans, the overall trend indicates that "less than half of consumers will pay for online music, movies and TV shows, and less than a third will pay for access to online newspapers and magazines".

Malaysians are top on e-books.

This is further supported by findings that consumers enjoy the fact that digital content is easily accessible online. They are reluctant to pay for it if they can find it for free. Going by the rule of thumb: If the product on the internet is free, then the users are the product – making it obvious that most Malaysians are indeed the perceived "products" (read guinea-pigs?).

They are made more vulnerable reflecting on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandals that unfolded lately.

Put another way, in sum Malaysians, are reported to be "the most addicted (emphasis added) to their digital devices, followed by India". Wow! That in the study, both represent the only two developing countries (with lower technological capacities and awareness, especially Malaysia) and being the most "hooked", raising many pertinent questions. And it demands more searching answers before leaping almost blindly into the "addictive" digital world and lifestyles.

Among them: Why the stark difference relative to the other technologically advanced countries? Is it a mere coincidence? If not, then what? And why is Singapore more like Malaysia than the European counterparts?

After all, none of them has Alibaba's DFTZ, which we seem to champion. What then is the likelihood that we (unknowingly) are being modelled as digital "guinea pigs"?

Especially of late, learning from what Chinese investors and investments are capable of?

All these and more are pertinent to urgently unpack and to know for sure the full implications of the "digitalise or die" mantra in order to meaningfully navigate through the digitalised world, dodging any form of unintended consequences and "blind spots".

Otherwise, the mantra could turn into "digitalise and die" (read technology takeover), ever mindful of how badly we fared in the 50 years of drug addiction war (MyView, Dec 27, 2017) with many unintended consequences too.