How long have you ever gone without using any personal (or work) digital device? Or maybe more importantly, how far do you think you could go without any? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprised of a five-tier ‘human necessity’ pyramid. To explain a little deeper if unfamiliar, and note I am not a psychologist but rather a humble developer, Maslow decided that people are driven to achieve certain needs and that some of those were more important than others; hence the pyramid structure. The requirements are essentially primal and survival.
Has technology become such a motivating factor for people in and of itself, or do we simply use technology and gadgets to just make us happy?
Once bottom and thus most important level of the pyramid is fulfilled, people are motivated by the next level up, and so forth until they reach the top. So the question is can technology ever become part of this hierarchy? Has technology become such a motivating factor for people in and of itself, or do we simply use technology and gadgets to just make us happy? Obviously, the first level of the so-called ‘Basic Needs’ are inherently physically, we cannot eat technology to not starve. At least, not directly… Where we do not use it for that purpose, it has revolutionised agriculture and all forms of food production. So, should it disappear, could we as a race survive effectively?
However, on a direct one to one impact, is technology fulfilling the rest of our needs for us? With the internet becoming a place where many work, socialise and almost live in, it is arguable that a proportion of the population don’t need the real world to fulfil many levels of their needs. Think about the little rush of when your Instagram photo gets an abundance of likes or your Facebook post sparks a conversation. Sharing on social media helps people feel useful, interesting and wanted, no matter how fleeting and superficially. Consider how it allows long-distance friends, family members and lovers to stay in touch; to not feel alone or separated even through hundreds of thousands of miles. In a direct sense, technology can fulfil the ‘Social Needs’ relating to the feeling of belonging to something and a sense of love, without which mental disorders could be wider spread and harder to overcome.
This, therefore, could transcend a direct relationship of tech to the user, and I’d go so far as to say past the ‘Basic Needs’. Technology can now facilitate every level of needs modern people, to the extent that some generations are becoming raised largely detached from simple knowledge and activities – reliant on their personal digital device to essentially guide them through life. With the true advent of virtual reality finally at our fingertips, the Sci-fi idea of living within a virtual world which makes us feel better than the real one is no longer such a laughable idea; technology already can make us happier than things in the real world, and even when the real world comes close we are so in awe that we often have a burning desire to capture it digitally somehow. So, is a true virtual future so far away, and is it something we as a species have become so reliant on that it has earned a plinth alongside survival necessities? However, on a direct one to one impact, is technology fulfilling the rest of our needs for us? With the internet becoming a place where many work, socialise, and almost live in, it is arguable that a proportion of the population don’t need the real world to fulfil many levels of their needs. Think about the little rush of when your Instagram photo gets an abundance of likes or your Facebook post sparks a conversation. Sharing on social media helps people feel useful, interesting and wanted, no matter how fleeting and superficially. Consider how it allows long distance friends, family members and lovers to stay in touch; to not feel alone or separated even through hundreds of thousands of miles. In a direct sense, technology can fulfil the ‘Social Needs’ relating to the feeling of belonging to something and a sense of love, without which mental disorders could be wider spread and harder to overcome.
This therefore could transcend a direct relationship of tech to user, and I’d go so far as to say past the ‘Basic Needs’. Technology can now facilitate every level of needs modern people, to the extent that some generations are becoming raised largely detached from simple knowledge and activities – reliant on their personal digital device to essentially guide them through live. With the true advent of virtual reality finally at our fingertips, the Sci-fi idea of living within a virtual world which makes us feel better than the real one is no longer such a laughable idea; technology already can make us happier than things in the real world, and even when the real world comes close we are so in awe that we often have a burning desire to capture it digitally somehow. So, is a true virtual future so far away, and is it something we as a species have become so reliant on that it has earned a plinth alongside survival necessities?
