Being-human in the world of digital artifacts: holistic rethinking of design practices

Abstract: This  thesis  conducts  a  philosophical,  theoretical, and  practical  exploration  of digital technology design to examine how digital technologies can fulfill our two-facet of existentiality – identified in the thesis as belonginess and novelty. By belonginess, I identify human’s innate need for a feeling of connectedness and harmony with the self, others, and the natural world. The word novelty implies the human interest in exploration, invention, and desire for new experiences. This research suggests that contemporary  digital  technologies  are  largely  novelty  need-oriented,  while  our belonginess  need  is  either  ignored  or  its  growth  curtailed.  The  research  question presented in this thesis is how and why can design enable digital technologies to mediate aligned  existentiality?  With  this  broad  question,  I  will  argue  that  an  alignment between digital technologies and our two-facet of existentiality can be met through refocused design practices.  Strong arguments have been forwarded that novelty focused digital technologies can reduce our existential  needs of belonginess. Digital technologies are leading consumerist  commodities  associated  with  creating  unrelenting  demand  for  new experiences.  The  search  for  constant  stimulation  and  novelty  has  resulted  in  a fragmented and alienated state of being-human where the only way of feeling a sense of belonging comes from consuming more novel experiences. As contemporary everyday life is increasingly intertwined with digital technologies, their effect on our way of being-human becomes even more notable.  Against  this  background,  the  research  attempts  to  ‘bring  back’  our  needs  of belonginess to an equal footing with novelty in digital technologies. I have examined the  current  digital  technology  design’s  philosophical,  theoretical,  and  practical foundations  to  refocus  design,  from  its  too  strong focus  on  developing  novelty experiences  to  mediating  aligned  existentiality.  With  the  aim  of  refocusing  the design  role,  a  theoretical  framework  based  on  holism  has  emerged  that  could provide design a background to focus on mediating aligned existentiality. Primarily ivinformed by three thinkers – Marin Heidegger, Karl Marx, and John Dewey – the proposed holistic theoretical framework aims to provide design with a basis to (1) embed belonginess values in digital technologies (2) redirect digital technologies from  alienating  values  such  as  consumerism,  and  (3)  provide  a  mediating materiality for digital technologies to advance aligned existentiality while in use. The  thesis  further  illustrates  the  proposed  holistic  dimensions  –  philosophy, theory, and practice – using three empirical materials. I argue that the proposed holistic foundation for design is also aligned with how digital technologies are being used in the everyday lifeworld. Consequently, by freeing design from its traditional responsibility of making technically savvy and novel artifacts and refocusing its role to mediating aligned existentiality, design can itself be used to support our being-human in the world of digital artifacts.