Influence Attempts in a Data-driven Society.
Introduction: Despite how much we think that we ignore them, and how little we may believe that we are affected, sophisticated influence attempts saturate our daily life. They are pervasive. Many mistakenly assume that such attempts must be memorable in order to succeed. But this is not the case. For example, we are known to behave in predictable, irrational ways; that can be easily triggered without our active engagement. Ours is an impulse-driven wants-based economy and to advertise or market is to make an influence attempt. Engaging in such agenda-driven activity isn’t inherently bad, and can be entertaining, informative, educational and more. But the use of manipulative tactics that trigger us in ways we don’t even realize, can cross the line between enlightened self-interest and predatory practices. This is particularly the case when the goal is to create a perception of value where little exists and to mire us in a fog of choice that obscures true value, does us little good and, potentially, considerable harm. Digital societies leverage commitment, sunk costs, scarcity and addiction in novel, invasive, and virtually unavoidable ways. We have become adept at wielding the paradox of choice to provide the illusion of agency while actually diminishing it. And, in so doing, we are incurring significant social costs. Discuss the relationship between immediacy and spontaneity in our digital society’s market economy: o Do relatively frictionless technologies play a role in instrumenting immediacy? o What, if any, long-term social consequences result from greater immediacy? Cite relevant material from reputable sources. Please be sure to cite the sources used and provide a link of the source, Wikipedia is not acceptable as an uncorroborated source!