Power, Virtue, and Your Smartphone.
Your phone is a “force multiplier”.
As I’ve discussed in other posts, force multipliers are neither good nor bad - they merely offer the intensification and spread of an existing thought, idea, or energy.
Thanks to the countless force multipliers you now have access to, you have more capacity to influence others than any other time in our history as humans. Congratulations.
However (and unsurprisingly), with a bunch of people cruising around with POWERFUL and potentially world-altering devices in their pockets comes certain challenges, and if you haven’t noticed, we are currently reckoning with a host of them.
Many of these challenges stem from a mismatch between power and virtue - a long-studied relationship in the field of ethics. Here’s a quick primer.
Historically, the relationship of power and virtue in a society goes something like this:
If the level of virtue in people in leadership positions is commensurate with their level of power, a society flourishes.
If the level of virtue in people in leadership positions is not commensurate with their level of power, a society self-destructs.
To put it even more simply, if people in power are good people, good things happen. If they’re not, bad things happen.
In the modern world however, this model for virtue-power binding no longer tells the complete story.
As mentioned a moment ago, we are living in an extremely unique time when even the most “average” of citizens holds IMMENSE power given their access to devices like their smartphone.
24 hours a day, folks have the ability to consume, create, and spread information at their fingertips.
In turn, this has shifted the virtue-power relationship for societies and now begs the following question:
How do we ensure that people participating in the digital realm (basically everyone) have a commensurate level of virtue that guides their newfound power?
The answer to this question will determine our future as a species.
Like the last few posts, the goal of this conversation is just to encourage a reframe of our devices. I think the ubiquity of our gadgets has dulled people’s recognition of the power that they carry in their pockets and the impact it has on their time here on earth.
From both an individual and societal level, we will benefit from more opportunities to slow down and analyze how the rapidly changing technology we have access to is affecting our own quality of life and those around us.
Build in time for that reflection.
P.S. The question posed earlier is largely tied to the concept of teaching morality. That’s a fun topic but more fit for a graduate course than a blog post. Quickly though - the question of can you “teach” virtue has long been argued, but almost all would agree with the adage that “example is better than precept”. Meaning, how you live is a more effective teaching instrument than what you say. To tie this back to your device, the way you model tech use (especially for your children) is your best bet for positively influencing those around you.