How is our children's generation coping as the first digitally native generation?
Victims of unintended consequences, from our good intentions.
Fully enrolled and recorded since birth. A social record without context or compassion. Pervasive and opaque. A new order and potetnial disorder. I coin it Surveillance Stress Disorder. SSD. A generational perception of total exposure in a new, self-imposed Social Stasi, where the perception of risk is so strong it’s becoming a reality for generations.
The proliferation of digital technologies is woven into an intricate web of connectivity and surveillance that permeates every facet of modern life. At our request no less, click-through permission for a lifetime of transgression. This inherently expands the definition of Acute stress disorder (ASD) as first outlined in 1994. Acute Stress Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments (psychcentral.com)
Have we created an existential threat and a generational divide between pre-digital natives and digital natives? A gap of differing understanding, acceptance, and adaptation to pervasive digital surveillance. Holding the potential to trigger significant social upheaval with the push of a button.
Pre-digital natives, having spent a large portion of their lives without this level of recorded surveillance, may struggle to adjust and are more likely to feel a profound sense of loss over a time when privacy was the norm rather than the exception. We should acknowledge cultural social surveillance is a part of life and the control it exerts over us. Scientology, small villages and towns, theocracies, and now the technology we created are always present.
Digital natives have been born into a world where scrutiny is commonplace. Real or imagined, actual or reconstructed. Their main street is an online fishbowl. We raised them in relative protection online, connected, monitored, secure. Digital native — Wikipedia
Innocence lost: what did you do before the internet? Leading digital natives to say: “No one knows what you did before the Internet.”
A different perception of privacy, personal boundaries, and risk now exist. A clash of worldviews instigating conflicts and misunderstandings between individuals, groups, and generations. We crated global digital citizens without a nation.
The perceived social pressure of this ubiquitous, passive surveillance may be termed Surveillance Stress Disorder. As seen in previous societies, chronic stress brought about by the awareness of being perpetually watched and evaluated can induce severe anxiety, paranoia, and a pervasive sense of helplessness. It has happened many times in the past, but never at a global scale.
The risk from Surveillance Stress Disorder is multi-fold. It can impact mental health individually, leading to increased disorders like anxiety and depression. Societally, this can lead to a culture of fear and self-censorship, where individuals are hesitant to express themselves freely due to fear of reprisal or judgment. In the extreme, this might suppress the free exchange of ideas, a cornerstone of a healthy democratic society. Combine this with an authoritarian governance and you have the worst of both worlds.
Moreover, constant surveillance is perfect for weaponizing. Increasing instances of cyberbullying, stalking, and harassment are escalating social tensions. Motivated minorities are driving agendas at scale through radicalization online or through leverage. This generational divide, the social pressures of passive surveillance, and the threat of Surveillance Stress Disorder underscore an urgent need for comprehensive digital privacy reforms. Without immediate intervention to address these issues, we risk exacerbating mental health crises, stifling free expression, and widening the rift between digital and pre-digital natives.
To mitigate these risks, we must enhance public understanding of digital privacy, develop robust data protection laws, and adopt transparent data practices. We must also ensure access to mental health resources to help those dealing with the psychological impacts of this surveillance. We must understand oppression and who controls the content. Who adjudicates appeals and enforces absolution.
We need no Inquisitions, no Stasi, Scientology, no internet, or AGI, to understand the existential threat we face is ourselves — our inability to adapt to this new digital environment is leading to adverse mental health outcomes and societal discord. Recognizing and confronting this issue ensures a healthier, more harmonious digital, and non-digital society.
The classifier considers the text to be very unlikely AI-generated.
