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Rituals & Technology in the Digital Age
We all have rituals in our lives. All os us. It’s part of how we navigate our lives, the world around us. They give us comfort, stability and sense-making. We often conflate the word ritual with meaning religious. While there are religious and spiritual rituals, this is not what ritual alone means.
Ritualisation, whether it be personal or in social and community settings plays a very important role in how humans have survived as a species and may play an even more important role in how we integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies into our sociocultural systems.
In groups, either secular or sacred, rituals help to bind us together. In sports, fans and teams alike have regular activities they perform before and after games. Like during the Super Bowl, with wearing team jerseys, having friends over, placing friendly bets and betting pools, the food, drinks and elements that surround the event. In religious, or sacred rituals, they help to form ways of meaning, purpose and shared values. Well, both so in various ways.
You probably have rituals around the use of your smartphone; morning and evening routines around checking messages and social media. This might even include turning your phone off entirely at a preset time before bed.
