Dear technology, you are not welcome: exploring ungratefulness towards technology
ISSN: 1747-1117
Article publication date: 17 December 2021
Issue publication date: 5 January 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Technology has become all-pervasive and one of the essential requirements of life. The blessings of science and technology are countless, and today, it is almost impossible to imagine life without applications of technology. And at the same time, positive psychologists have advocated practicing gratitude for the betterment of personal and professional growth and development. But ironically, the area of gratitude toward technology remains unexplored. The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in gratitude for the technological and non-technological aspects of life.
Design/methodology/approach
The first study compared gratitude for three parameters – sense of abundance, social appreciation and appreciation for others. The second study was based on the “counting blessing” exercise, in which respondents were asked to write five things for which they feel grateful in life. The Friedman test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used to compare the ranked data. In the third study, respondents were distributed into two groups. Both groups were given a puzzle to solve; first, group members were informed that they would interact with other human beings, and the second group was informed that they would interact with bots.
Findings
All three studies concluded that respondents are relatively less grateful for the contributions of technologies.
Originality/value
This is probably the first study that investigated gratefulness for technology.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors confirm that the manuscript adheres to ethical guidelines. This includes requirements that research is conducted ethically, results are reported honestly, the submitted work is original and not (self-)plagiarized and authorship reflects individuals’ contributions.The author has no conflict of interest to declare.We hereby declare that the present article is Compiled with Ethical Standards as below.Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest – No conflict of interest.Research involving human participants and/or animals – Informed consent of human respondents taken.
Citation
Garg, N. and Kumari, S. (2023), "Dear technology, you are not welcome: exploring ungratefulness towards technology", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 101-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-03-2021-0113
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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