Franziska Heil is 26 years old and lives in Mainz. She is a student at the University of Regensburg and works as a research assistant in the Criminological Central Office in Wiesbaden.
Ms. Heil, to what extent do you use digital technologies?
To a very large extent.
I work eight hours a day with the computer, it is my main working medium.
In my private life I use the mobile phone and messenger services, but social media such as Facebook only in a very slimmed-down form.
Instagram, for example, not at all.
I have apps for listening to music, for online banking and for the latest news.
When I cook, I listen to podcasts from Deutschlandfunk.
These are my everyday routines, in which I regularly fall back on digital media.
I also use navigation apps, but they actually bother me.
How does the navigation via app bother you?
I realize that I am making myself dependent on it.
I no longer allow myself to get lost because then I find it annoying.
Because I know I could have achieved my goal better and faster.
In addition, the instinctive sense of direction, which might develop a little better if you really think about it, is saved.
Navigation apps tempt me to get to my destination efficiently.
That annoys me.
What exactly is it that annoys you? That you implicitly adopt standards such as efficiency, effectiveness, goal orientation from technology?
Yes, exactly.
The feeling of the contradiction between people and technology: How can I get to my goal as quickly as possible and without investing a lot of resources - be it time, energy or thoughts - and get the most out of it?
At the same time, my human abilities are diminishing.
For me these are opposites.
That's why I specifically take time in my everyday life to just go for a walk and pay attention to things that would otherwise get lost because they are swallowed up by everyday life.
What is your attitude towards digital technology?
Very ambivalent. I worked in child and youth welfare for a while. I saw how important media literacy is and what problematic properties digital technologies can bring with them when they permeate everyday life as they do today. I have a very critical attitude towards this because I see a great danger in not being able to find, love, and appreciate oneself through the excessive use of digital media. On the other hand, I find it positive and valuable that discussions and messages via online channels quickly reach people who they might never have reached before and make waves. Counter offensives, for example in political debates, are thus quickly possible. I also see a lot of potential in digital technologies for people with limited participation.
Can you give examples of the consequences of excessive online use?
In my youth work I was concerned with a case of a 13-year-old teenager.
Her whole life has been defined by the feedback she received from online media.
Sexism was a huge topic, hostility that she took very to heart, questioning her as a person, being reduced to her feminine body.
As a result, she developed real self-esteem problems.
The online medium was their real world.
You just couldn't get in the way of the analog world.