The Ecological Cost of the Digital Revolution

The current mad rush to digitise everything that exists on this good Earth is reminiscent of the unholy contest amongst the newly industrialised European powers a few centuries ago to carve out their colonies in the resource-rich Americas, Africa, and Asia and strip them of everything valuable. The glories that the age of digitisation promises discount the negative impacts of the inexorable race towards a non-analog future. Never mind that the world is already battling the problem of monumental electronic waste in the form of discarded phones, laptops, and batteries. Likewise, it doesn’t matter that the digital revolution requires gargantuan levels of electricity consumption to sustain itself, exacerbating an already precarious climate change scenario. Everything seems to be lost in the clamour of achieving ever-higher valuations by the leading tech companies of the world, especially the ones invested in artificial intelligence or AI.

The social havoc being wreaked by relentless digitisation is all-pervasive. You can see it in the children who, from a young age, get addicted to their electronic gadgets, with their appalling consequences for their growth and development. Furthermore, the collapse of traditional ways and means of social networking for people across age groups, as well as the dangers posed by deepfake technology, are not things that can be swept under the carpet without reaping the most harmful consequences in the times ahead.

Let us just look at the ecological costs of the so-called digital revolution and ask ourselves if it is worth all the trouble we are taking to herald it. For all the talk of the growing carbon footprint of our modern lifestyles and the need to avoid unnecessary travel, especially by fossil fuel-run automobiles and aeroplanes, we would be shocked to know that merely using the Internet contributes as much as 1.5% to 4% of the total global greenhouse emissions.

\ The inevitable proliferation of AI-powered devices, touted as indispensable for everyone in the times ahead, leads to a specter of unprecedented levels of electronic waste. One can get some idea about what lies ahead by letting it sink in that the 2020 Global E-Waste Monitor report points to an e-waste generation of a whopping 53.6 million tonnes. Shockingly, of this, only a mease;y 17.4% had been collected and recycled.

What is particularly worrying is the fact that, despite the fact that global digital activity is a relatively recent phenomenon, it has already contributed to 3.7% of total greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2019 study, which is pretty close to the emission levels accounted for by the much-maligned aviation industry. Worryingly, electricity consumption on account of digital technology grew by almost 70% from 2013 to 2020.

The ecological cost of the digital revolution has to be weighed against its purported benefits by way of enhanced productivity and profitability on the part of business houses. Any expected ecological benefits accruing on account of more efficient use of resources and the ability to find solutions to some of mankind's pressing problems pertaining to healthcare, logistics, e-commerce, and communication have to be measured against the ecological downside to using the ever-expanding ambit of digital products and services. Rushing boldly and madly into the euphoric universe of all-pervading rampant digitisation without pausing to study its accompanying negative ramifications is as foolhardy as it possibly can be.

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