Emotional Digitalization as Technology of the Post-Modern: A Reflexive Examination from the View of The Industry

The World Today And Tomorrow

The core problems of the industrial society (saturated markets, over-indebtedness, mass unemployment, etc.) demanded drastic mental reorientation and have, at the same time, uncovered innovation potentials. Spirituality and mental dimensions begin to replace the abstraction - the dream becomes a legend. The new technologies of the third millennium must also surrender to these new demands. With help from the most current technologies, we learn to tell stories. Contrary to the findings of Lyotard from the end of the great narrations of history¹, one could also speak about a fragmentation, which transfers this narration from people to technology, especially the digital technologies. With a new neologism, one speaks of the necessity of a “homuter society”, which is in a position to propitiate the people with (information) technologies (Haefner, 1984). Haefner uses this term freely in order to verbalize his skepticism of the possibilities of future developments, which was obtained during the cold war. However, we could also read it with a conscious hope.

Thus, a great possibility of the future lies in the developing of technologies, stimulating creativity and inspiring thoughts: the aesthetic layout of, for example, an intranet and the constantly used user interfaces eases the employee’s accessing of the media, prevents fatigue from using information and inspires emotions in the exposure to IT in everyday work. The effect is to state a higher degree of identification to the corporation, a more emotional, eventually better relationship to the employer and – ultimately and ideally considered – an increased labor efficiency accompanied by increased happiness. In this manner, IT of the post-modern can manage the reconciliation of the contradictions between technology and art, which are unimaginably present in the modern.