Digitization and the shaping of society – a soft systems study

The ubiquity of communication technologies has influenced the way we receive and process ‘information’. It is shaping the way that human societies interact and made it to distinguish between tittle-tattle and facts. Despite its many benefits it can also lead to social disengagement where ‘data’ is treated as information and ‘news’ can be untrue. In this paper I investigate if digitization is changing the nature of society and the way we behave. Using a Soft systems method, I explore the impact that digitization is having upon society and discuss the lessons learnt. The suggestion is made that using soft ideas might help receivers to gain a better appreciation of the material they access within the context in which it is expressed.