11 November 2021
Digital well-being technologies (DWTs) are systems aiming to increase an aspect of well-being (e.g., mental health, physical wellness) of users by means of personalised outputs. In this talk, I will deal with an ethical issue of two types of DWTs – recommendation systems significantly influencing one’s life and digital well-being apps for healthy adults – that so far has been overlooked: their impact on the user’s good life, namely, a life that is good for the user. I will show that since these DWTs are mainly based on the user’s narrowly defined utility function and past or similar users’ preferences, they impoverish the diversity and novelty of the user’s digital environment in terms of stimuli and opportunities. Then, I will contend that a homogeneous and immutable environment limits the individual’s good life because in such an environment, some factors that are essential to any good life are reduced: life experience, self-knowledge, and authenticity. Finally, I will outline the user’s right to an open present, which is a moral requirement for DWTs that protects the user’s good life from the negative effects of DWTs.
Campus Est USI-SUPSI, Lugano-Viganello, room D1.01 (Sector D, first floor)