Religions provide framework for people to adopt lifestyles and welfare they seek within their faith .Technology may not replace religions but its ability to provide stable lifestyle & affordable welfare is much more lucrative ,it isnt about Religion Vs Technology ,ratherTechnology does it so effortlessly it has become new Religion itself.and we have became worshipers of this new religion .but when faith becomes blind it dies.- pravin
Article By Ajay Choudhary
Are tech brands the new age Religions?
“Religion exists to provide an answer to metaphysical realities while technology deals with the material world. We believe it as the ultimate truth and yet it is filled with oceans full of lies.”A concept that deals with the uncertainty of human life that is significant, persistent, and unbearable. It provides comprehensive answers to people’s misery and pain in life. That’s why the concept of religion has been a powerful tool to control and manipulate people. it provides welfare to the society in need.
The power of religion does not come from all the rules that it creates. It comes through the followers who follow them with discipline and commitment.
Religion promises to liberate people’s mind but only to jail them with commandments. It limits their free will and reason to question. Today the concept of religion no more talks about connection with the divine. It only convinces oneself to follow without reason.
& when faith becomes blind it dies.
This sounds too familiar only if we just replace the word religion with tech brands we admire.
Technology brands - A new religion?
Tech brands serve us at every moment of our life. They make our life easier and convenient. in return, they demand loyalty. Consumers become blind followers and influencers at the same time. They do it by promising better experience value in exchange for knowing us.
If we look at smartphones, it started with a basic touch screen experience to the various app that serves us. Even the smallest aspect of design like color, sizing, and fastest way to do a task is taken care of. Life now exists in instant mode. If I wish it, I need it now. Never in the history of human life were we able to juggle so many tasks in a day. Tech brands are allowing people to do more with their lives. Their purpose is to empower people to achieve more.
Since its inception religions have been empowering people to deal with worldly life and focus on achieving more. Tech brands are employing the same tricks that various religions have developed over centuries.
“The essence of all the religions is one. Only different in approach.” In the same way, every tech brand wants to provide a better life experience. The only difference between is their approach.
Fanboys
Every religion and tech brands have fanboys, followers, and rituals. it can be dissected into a few essential components. Core values, Identity, Rituals, and Community.
Core values are very important to attract your followers. Religions have a strong tagline to rally supporters behind them. It is the core values that keep a sense of oneness and belonging. Tech brands also connect with the customer through a strong tagline. Customer not only experiences the product but they also live the core values of the brand.
Identity is vital for any religion. “One religion says the followers to keep mustache, another says to keep the beard”. “One religion has followers wearing a head cap and another says keep turban for identification. It’s like a strategy of differentiation through aesthetics. We all remember Samsung ad mocking apple users for new notch designed iPhone. There was a social media war between Apple and Samsung fanboys. However, what Apple did was revolutionary and polarizing. People loved it and other brands had to follow the suit. The tech brands are constantly creating new identity design and reinforcing them into their products. A strong identity empowers its user with a sense of superiority over another. and its easier to change your religion from Samsung to apple overnight with the overpriced offerings
Ritual is what keeps reminding people about the core values of the religion. It a great tool to promote and express religion. Way of greeting, Praying to the divine, food habits, and celebrating important days is the way to bring order for people. Religions thrive on this social discipline and structure among their followers. Similarly, tech brands have embraced the idea of ritual. “One brand has a smartphone that opens with face ID and another with fingerprint ID”. One brand wants you to share short video clips and another wants you to share customized photo stories.” Tech brands keep inventing new rituals to keep their users delighted. Rituals bring a sense of joy and create deep memories. Users may not buy the brand at times but they do buy rituals.
Community spirit makes a religion. This spirit encourages everybody to practice its rituals, believe in their identity, and promote their commandments. Also, every religion has a sizeable number of fanatics. These fanboys are overly protective of their religious practices and values. The success of any religion that exists today has to be attributed to their fanboys. Similarly, every tech brands have a loyalist who believes in the cause of the brand. The zeal and enthusiasm of the fanatics encourage a brand to take progressive leaps. A strong community also has the power to change the society around them. Tech brands often leverage this community power to strengthen their brand reach.
Tech brands will need ethics in the time
Religion breeds on devotion and regular reconnect with the divine one. Devotion acts as a powerful drug to absorb an individual in its system. The system thrives on more engagement of individuals.
Blind faith has exploited individuals who seek to connect with the divine regularly. It is like subscribing to the god and having a bell icon to notify him constantly.
The intent of any religious institution is never questioned because it is in the name of the holy one and just sacred. This often exempts them from scrutiny and introspection.
on the other hand, Tech brands call technology their god. The purpose of this god is to help people express their ideas. Most importantly they allow us to do it for free. The users only have to engage with them constantly. The user feels that tech brands are providing freedom of expression for free. In reality, our expression is their data.
Whenever we visit a religious place, we always make a deal with god. We like to offer him something in return for granting us the wish. However today anything we wish is known to Alexa. God may never listen to us but tech companies are always listening to us in a literal sense. They know more about us than us. Information we may deem useless is enough for them to pilot our lives.
Religions in modern-day have lost connection and charm with people because of the constant engagement strategy. It has caused social fatigue among the masses. People no longer trust the intend of religious institutions and maybe tech brands will replace them in the future. What can we say about tech brands; won’t they fail themselves the same way as religions are doing? They are following the same playbook and following the same course of action. Do we remember face book happiness experiment or Google’s ad manipulation? an incident like this makes a case for tech ethics. Imagine thousands of people can be turned from neutral to moderate and moderate to extremists in a few months. With the reach and speed of technology today, it will be catastrophic.
State and religion must be separate. Similarly, tech brands and state must be separate. Tech brands have money-making obligations to their investors but no obligation bigger than the sustainability of the state. Ethics in tech will bring necessary change in the industry. Technology must be humane and value-centric. It has to liberate itself from the cycle of perpetual high growth and greed. Together as a society, we must devoid ourselves from designing evil technologies that have a physiological and psychological impact on us.
As customers, we have to deal carefully with tactics brands use to shame other brands to gain more blind followers and create unrealistic hype about their religion we must hold senses to unsubscribe or unfollow unethical practices and shouldn't call out or rage wars between followers of other brands to feel superior. because when technology will abandon us one day we will be left with low battery life and no update.
-Design Odyssey
This article was written by Ajay Choudhary,(Creative designer, Hyundai design India )and is co-authored with Pravin Gaikwad, (Head of Design Studio, Hyundai design India.)
We strongly believe India must improve Tech ethics and consumer brand awareness. technology brands have the power to enlighten people in good and bad ways. Our society has developed effective immunity against religious intolerance for ages. However, the way technology has penetrated our community, has the potential to disturb the fine balance of religious harmony. We hope tech companies practice power with responsibility.
