Friction and Personal Growth in Digital Environments
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article discusses how the lack of friction in digital environments affects personal growth and development. We define friction as the natural resistance within a medium that forces us to recognize our limits and establish our place within it. This approach draws from Rousseau’s anthropological theory, mainly the dichotomy between Negative and Positive Education; or the differences between a formative process that forces self-awareness and a formative process where
we become passive consumers of cultural items. Our diagnostic hypothesis is that today’s digital technologies are not designed with digital skills development in mind. Instead, they prioritize ease
of use and immediate gratification. By analyzing examples of the evolution of video games and word processing software, we remark how frictionless access to digital goods and the illusion of choice undermine opportunities for meaningful engagement with our digital experiences. This suggests
that simply restricting screen time isn’t enough to foster complete personal development in our
increasingly digital world. We must also critically examine how the underlying conditions of these digital spaces shape our behaviors and thinking patterns. The relationship between technology
design and human development deserves greater attention. The article concludes by calling for
the conversation about implementing Negative Education principles in digital environments by
creating intentional friction points fostering a generation of truly capable digital citizens.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authorship: The list of authors signing must include only those people who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work. Collaboration in the collection of data is not, by itself, a sufficient criterion of authorship. "Sophia" declines any responsibility for possible conflicts arising from the authorship of the works that are published.
Copyright: The Salesian Polytechnic University preserves the copyrights of the published articles, and favors and allows their reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Ecuador license. They may be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted and publicly displayed, provided that: i) the authorship and the original source of their publication (journal, editorial and work URL) are cited; (Ii) are not used for commercial purposes; Iii) mention the existence and specifications of this license.
References
Arcagni, Simone. (2023). La zona oscura: Filosofia del metaverso (Prima edizione). LUISS University Press.
Binoche, Bertrand. (2004). Les équivoques de la perfectibilité. En L’homme perfectible (pp. 13-35). Champ vallon : Diffusion Presses universitaires de France.
Bonanno, Emma Rose. (2014). The Social Media Paradox: An Examination of the Illusion Versus the Reality of Social Media. 3.
Braghieri, Luca, Levy, Ro’ee, & Makarin, Alexey. (2022). Social Media and Mental Health. American Economic Review, 112(11), 3660-3693. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20211218
Chyr, William, Brussee, Arthur, Tyler LaGrange, Aaron Mills, & Sam Blye. (2019). Manifold Garden [Software]. https://manifold.garden
Dewey, John. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. The Macmillan Company. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219789/
Diderot, Denis, & d’Alambert, Jean le Rond (Eds.). (1751). Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, etc. Briasson, David, Le Breton y Durand.
Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (European Commission), Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Francisco, Boluda, Alba, Bogliacino, Francesco, Liva, Giovanni, Lechardoy, Lucie, & Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell, Teresa. (2022). Behavioural study on unfair commercial practices in the digital environment: Dark patterns and manipulative personalisation : final report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2838/859030
Elsayed, Walaa. (2021). The negative effects of social media on the social identity of adolescents from the perspective of social work. Heliyon, 7(2), e06327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06327
Eyal, Nir, & Hoover, Ryan. (2019). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. Penguin Business.
Ferguson, Christopher J. (2024). Do social media experiments prove a link with mental health: A methodological and meta-analytic review. Psychology of Popular Media, No Pagination Specified-No Pagination Specified. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000541
Floridi, Luciano (Ed.). (2015). The Onlife Manifesto. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04093-6
Froebel, Federico. (1912). La educación del hombre. D. Appleton y Ca. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-educacion-del-hombre--0/html/
Gozálvez-Pérez, Vicent, & Cortijo-Ruíz, Gemma. (2023). Desarrollo humano y redes sociales en sociedades digitales. Sophía, 34, Article 34. https://doi.org/10.17163/soph.n34.2023.01
Guellai, Bahia, Somogyi, Eszter, Esseily, Rana, & Chopin, Adrien. (2022). Effects of screen exposure on young children’s cognitive development: A review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 923370. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923370
Klusowski, Joowon, Small, Deborah A., & Simmons, Joseph P. (2021). Does Choice Cause an Illusion of Control? Psychological Science, 32(2), 159-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620958009
Luzuriaga, Lorenzo. (1959). Historia de la educación y de la pedagogía (3a). Editorial Losada.
Mechner, Jordan. (2011). The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985 - 1993. Mechner.
Muppalla, Sudheer Kumar, Vuppalapati, Sravya, Pulliahgaru, Apeksha Reddy, Sreenivasulu, Himabindu, Muppalla, Sudheer kumar, Vuppalapati, Sravya, Pulliahgaru, Apeksha Reddy, & Sreenivasulu, Himabindu. (2023). Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management. Cureus, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40608
Nagata, Jason M., Paul, Angel, Yen, Felicia, Smith-Russack, Zacariah, Shao, Iris Yuefan, Al-shoaibi, Abubakr A. A., Ganson, Kyle T., Testa, Alexander, Kiss, Orsolya, He, Jinbo, & Baker, Fiona C. (2024). Associations between media parenting practices and early adolescent screen use. Pediatric Research, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03243-y
Negroponte, Nicholas. (1995). Being digital (1. publ). Hodder & Stoughton.
Parker, Lana. (2022). Classrooms as Places of Productive Friction. Philosophy of Education, 78(1), 58-71. https://doi.org/10.47925/78.1.058
Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich. (1887). Comment Gertrude instruit ses enfants (Eugène Darin, Trad.). Librairie Ch. Delagrave. http://bibnum-bu.univ-artois.fr/items/show/596
Ramos, Iago. (2014). Rousseau y el ser del hombre. Ediciones Universidad Salamanca.
Ramos, Iago. (2023, diciembre 21). Obesidad mental. La Opinión de Zamora, 7. https://www.laopiniondezamora.es/lapizarra/2023/12/21/obesidad-mental-96097783.html
Ramos, Iago, & Fuentes-Guillén, Elías. (2020). Tecnología y Transparencia. TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO: Revista de Filosofia, 43(1), 77-98. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3173.2020.v43n1.05.p77
Roberts, Donald F., Foehr, Ulla G., & Rideout, Victoria. (2005). Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds - Report. https://www.kff.org/other/generation-m-media-in-the-lives-of/
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (2010a). Émile ou De l’éducation. En Bernard Gagnebin (Ed.), Oeuvres complètes. 4: Emile, Éducation—Morale—Botanique (pp. 241-877). Gallimard.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (2010b). Lettre à Christophe de Beaumont. En Bernard Gagnebin (Ed.), Oeuvres complètes. 4: Emile, Éducation—Morale—Botanique (pp. 925-1030). Gallimard.
Singer, Natasha. (2017, junio 6). The Silicon Valley Billionaires Remaking America’s Schools. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/technology/tech-billionaires-education-zuckerberg-facebook-hastings.html
Soëtard, Michel. (2012). Rousseau et l’idée d’éducation suivi de Pestalozzi juge de Jean-Jacques: Essai. H. Champion.
Swider-Cios, Edyta, Vermeij, Anouk, & Sitskoorn, Margriet M. (2023). Young children and screen-based media: The impact on cognitive and socioemotional development and the importance of parental mediation. Cognitive Development, 66, 101319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101319
Teikari, Arvi. (2019). Baba is You [Software]. https://hempuli.com/baba/
Thai, Helen, Davis, Christopher G., Mahboob, Wardah, Perry, Sabrina, Adams, Alex, & Goldfield, Gary S. (2024). Reducing social media use improves appearance and weight esteem in youth with emotional distress. Psychology of Popular Media, 13(1), 162-169. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000460
Turkle, Sherry. (1997). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet.
Vuong, An T., Jarman, Hannah K., Doley, Jo R., & McLean, Siân A. (2021). Social Media Use and Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Thin- and Muscular-Ideal Internalisation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(24), 13222. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413222
Weller, Chris. (2021, abril 21). Silicon Valley parents are raising their kids tech-free—And it should be a red flag. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-parents-raising-their-kids-tech-free-red-flag-2018-2
Wells, H. G. (2024). The Time Machine. Standard Ebooks. https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-g-wells/the-time-machine