Introducing Flat or Not, My Weekly True/ Slant Column
I have spent the best part of the last two years studying the intersection of technology and society, first as a marketer using internet and mobile technologies to connect with consumers, and then as a researcher studying and teaching digital activism, and dabbling in it.
I have been writing about how social media changes society, in good, bad and ugly ways, at Gauravonomics Blog, which has a small but engaged readership now. My hope is that my weekly True/ Slant column, Flat or Not, will help me spread these ideas to a mainstream audience.
The name Flat or Not, as you might have noticed, comes from Thomas Friedman’s seminal book ‘The World is Flat’. At the core of the book is the very valid idea that we live in a connected world, thanks to internet and mobile technologies, and that creates new challenges and opportunities. The rather misleading title, however, has misled many readers to conclude that the world is indeed flat, that internet and mobile technologies have converted us into global citizens with similar cultural references, values systems, and aspirations.
Authors tend to overstate their case in order to sell books, and my research on the intersection of technology and society has shown me that the world is hardly flat, or even flatter than before. Internet and mobile technologies are like alcohol: they strengthen the tendencies you already have, give you permission to engage in behavior you already want to.
So, I have seen that internet and mobile technologies enhance both similarities and differences, within and between societies. They transform some of us into cosmopolitan, global citizens and others into entrenched nationalistic bigots. They makes open societies even more open and closed societies even more closed. Sometimes, they isolate us from the society we physically live in and plug us into a virtual world of like-minded misfits.
It’s important that we understand these dynamics at the intersection of technology and society, in order to benefit from the best and avoid the worst technology has to offer. Understanding these trends has profound repercussions for our personal lives, as citizens and consumers, and for our professional lives, as members of business, civil society and government organizations.
Every Friday, on Flat or Not, I’ll share a story from the intersection of technology and society, with a focus on the emerging world. My hope is that over time, in the aggregate, these stories will help you understand if technology is indeed making our world flat, or not.
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Next week, I’ll start off with a post on how internet and mobile technologies are transforming the Indian Lok Sabha elections, or not.
[...] Cross-posted at Flat or Not, my column at True/ Slant. [...]
[...] his first piece for True/Slant, Ted Fellow and all-around Internet wunderkind Gaurav Mishra takes aim at Thomas Friedman’s [...]
I agree with you on the amplification, rather than the broadening, effect of internet. It provides mechanisms to vindicate what one already holds true, and to revel in like-minded company.
It is a narcissistic medium.
I have written on the flip side of the internet (but also celebrated its capabilities).
I look forward to reading your articles and blog.
Welcome to True/Slant! I’m looking forward to reading your writing here on technology and the changing nature of society!!
I’m looking forward to this. Living in a land that sits behind a proxy server has really gotten me thinking about privacy and information that hadn’t occurred to me before.