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News Release from 2020Plus
London, England: 8 May 2013. The combination of rapid urbanisation and our growing engagement with the mobile internet may make situations like the one uncovered this week in Ohio, USA much more common in future. This is according to the Social Futurist Mal Fletcher.
In an article published today by 2020Plus, a London-based international think tank, he writes that the story of three young women kept in captivity for up to a decade reminds us of the dangers posed by social disconnection.
Reports from Cleveland, Ohio suggest that nobody had any inkling of the sinister goings on within the suburban property, despite the fact that it was overlooked by a large apartment complex.
Fletcher, who researches and lectures widely on social change, says that with the global population of cities set to surpass five billion by 2030, both the developed and developing worlds will see new patterns of urban life emerging.
One of these patterns may be a trend toward a far greater disengagement with local events. Tragedies may go unnoticed.
"For all its benefits," he says, "urbanisation often increases levels of psychological stress, anxiety, confusion and fear for local populations. The growth of the city brings with it the temptation for individuals to disconnect from their environment."
"At the same time, the expanding 'digital city' seems to offer a convenient replacement for the real world. As a result, we may face huge new challenges relating to social identity and cohesion."
"In an age when our communication technology far outstrips anything available to our forebears, we need to ask why we seem to be less aware of our surroundings."
With the rapid uptake of 4G smartphones and the imminent arrival of mobile virtual reality technologies, such as Google Glass, younger people are learning to reduce real-time social intercourse, he believes.
"It's the combination of rapid urbanisation and increasing digitisation that presents one of our biggest challenges for the future," Fletcher adds.
"I'm sure we all want the benefits of technology, but we don't want to see a world in which we've allowed gadgets or urban pressures to make us spatially or socially blind."
We need, he says, to explore new ways to encourage people to stay connected with their immediate surroundings. Already recognising the physical dangers of social disconnection, authorities in some parts of the US have experimented with small fines for people caught texting while walking down crowded streets.
"This may not be an approach we want in every city," argues Fletcher, "but the principle is important."
"Society only functions when we each stay fully aware of our real-time environment; when we each learn to say, 'I am society'."
"Urban pressures and digitisation won't necessarily lead to disengagement - that's a human choice, and one that will be made at an individual level."
Mal Fletcher is a Social Futurist and Commentator who lectures on social change and is widely broadcast and published. He is the author of "< ahref="http://2020plus.net/ft">Fascinating Times: Rapid Change Requires Clear Thinking".
The article is published today and is available at: http://2020plus.net/Editorial-330-Mal-Fletcher-Ohio-When-Next-Door-Is-A-World-Away.aspx.
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