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| Photo by Peak Wellbeing |
Shannon Vallor argues in the article Social networking technology and the virtues, that virtue ethics should be used to judge the ethicality of information technologies. She references Aristotle's idea that friendships are central to a good life, and such friendships should be evaluated on a set of virtues. Vallor expands upon Aristotle's original three, forming what she calls the communicative virtues: patience, honesty, empathy, fidelity, reciprocity, and tolerance.
Social networking technologies were designed, as their names suggest, to assist users in maintaining and growing their social networks. The key word here is assist. Luciano Floridi dispels the common notion that digital technologies are augmentative, which I discuss in my previous article The Great Digital Migration, and claims that they are instead changing the very nature of our being. Social networks may appear to be here to assist us, but the very act in doing so may instead be encouraging or discouraging development of our virtues.
As Vallor describes,
"Most technologies are designed with the aim of making human activity easier, less risky, and more immediately satisfying... virtues are typically developed as a consequence of performing actions that are, at least initially, difficult. As Aristotle noted, virtues result from actions that pull against certain natural tendencies that would otherwise lead us away from excellence."
Face-to-face interaction is awkward at times. Keeping up with friends and family can be bothersome. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn exist to solve these problems associated with socializing, but the allure of their convenience and ease could replace those uncomfortable interactions that may be necessary to build virtues like patience, honesty, or empathy.
As a concluding remark, Vallor acknowledges the other side of the picture, describing how social networking technologies could aid in alleviating social pressures leading to deceive and maintain face, or tendencies to cling to physical groups. Moving forward, how should we take into account the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies? Should social platforms like Facebook leverage the benefits that difficult face-to-face interactions provide? Should the simple act of sending messages or friend requests be more complex and nuanced?
Applying virtue ethics to designing technological tools, we must consider not only how the tool could assist us, but also how it could build upon our virtues, even if it means to sacrifice the efficiency and expedience that we're so used to.
References:
Vallor, S. Ethics Inf Technol (2010) 12:157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-009-9202-1
