I was born in the early 1980s, so the digital environment of my childhood consisted of a TV without a remote control, VHS videos, a landline phone and a Commodere 64 computer. When the 90s came, the television was updated, it might still have a built-in video player, and the Commodore 64 changed to Nintendo and Super Nintendo. I got my first mobile phone at the end of the 90s, I think the brand was Ericsson and the model GA628. It’s strange how these things are remembered, just like the first time you played Super Mario or Duck Hunt on Nintendo. The computer was updated to Mikromikko and our home went online. The sound of the modem connecting to the network still rings in my ears. Altavista’s search engine opened the doors to the world and the conversation was found on the radio channel Kiss Fm chat and from IRC.
The digital development of the last ten years has been breathtaking. Streaming services have changed the way we enjoy entertainment. CDs are disappearing, luckily LPs still have their own supporters. Books are listened to more than physical books are read, and bookshelves only adorn the homes of bibliophiles. Television viewing is decreasing and content is viewed from different streaming services, which compete for customers by investing in the quality of the content and their own productions.
When I look at the growth of my own children in this age of digitalization, I wonder how naturally everything works out for them. Mobile applications, digitization of the home and unlimited data use of the Internet are part of everyday life and a way to learn at school. This should also not be treated uncritically and requires a lot of responsibility from adults to teach internet etiquette and critical attitude.
I am a singing teacher by profession and I also work versatilely as a musician. Using electronic instruments has always been a natural part of my field. At the end of the 80s, digitalization came to studio technology and experienced a big leap in the 90s. For example, Pro Tools, Cubase and Ableton are widely used sequencer and recording programs. Nowadays, it’s hard to find music that isn’t overproduced, that hasn’t been edited and processed to the extreme with the help of studio technology. It’s rarer anymore to hear a natural song with little bits, where everything wasn’t sung through car tune sounding like a robot, or a slightly swaying and lively tempo in the drums, or a guitar solo that wasn’t built note by note. There is a saying “Before Pro Tools there were Pro’s”.
The development of studio and audio technology has also had its good sides. Today, more and more musicians can make and produce their music and distribute it easily through, for example, Spotify.
In my work, I also use a lot of notation programs, mainly Musescore, which is free, and from time to time I also use Sibelius, which works under a license. Numerous mobile applications are a part of everyday work, and they are increasingly using artificial intelligence. A big digitization step was also taken in vocal and musical instrument teaching when covid-19 hit worldwide. Video technology, various meeting platforms and mobile applications were used in distance education. I believe that distance learning can also be part of the future, but it can never replace a genuine interactive teaching situation and making music together. Music and studio technology continue to develop at breakneck speed together with artificial intelligence. However, none of these can replace a real soulful human voice, or a personal playing.
Society has digitized rapidly. Digital development is huge, and continues to accelerate as science and technology take leaps forward. However, social media and the unlimited amount of information also pose challenges. We leave traces of ourselves on the web all the time, and the use of many services also requires permission for the release of various information. It’s easy to bully anonymously online, and doxing has become a modern-day unpleasant phenomenon.
The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, is the EU’s general data protection regulation. It strengthens EU citizens’ rights to their own personal data. In practice, people can check their own stored data, how the data was collected and how it is processed and passed on. The person also has the option to correct and delete the data. The regulation obliges the administrators of the registers to enable the individual’s rights to use their own data.
I think the regulation is good step towards an individual’s right to self-determination about what information he/she wants to share and keep online. The practice is different: how many will manage to demand to see information about themselves, to change or delete it? And how are the administrators of millions of registries controlled for the processing and protection of our data? Are we also too used to sharing information about ourselves and details about our lives? Whether it’s sharing on our own social media channels or giving information when registering for different services…
From the orientation materials, I learned even more deeply about privacy. Cybercrime is an everyday threat and requires multiple actions from the internet user. The visions of the future and artificial intelligence were interesting and it was instructive to reflect on one’s own history in the transition of digitalization and how much digitalization defines our lives.
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