Written by Matthew Heath and Jorine de Koning
One of the most widespread and probably criticized theories in psychology is one proposed by Maslow (1943) in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. Maslow presents a five-stage model in which he describes the basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs of human movement through motivation, see figure 1. In general, first the basic needs (physiology and safety) must be fulfilled in order to move on to the psychological needs (love and esteem), after which the final stage, self-actualization, can be reached (McLeod, 2018). For example, imagine not having access to either food or water, or not being able to sleep for a few nights. Without any of these basic needs (for a longer period of time), it is hard to focus on other things. Let alone, focusing on love, self-esteem, and social contacts. However, what happens with this hierarchy of needs when we take into consideration the role technology plays in our daily lives.
One of the most widespread and probably criticized theories in psychology is one proposed by Maslow (1943) in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. Maslow presents a five-stage model in which he describes the basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs of human movement through motivation, see figure 1. In general, first the basic needs (physiology and safety) must be fulfilled in order to move on to the psychological needs (love and esteem), after which the final stage, self-actualization, can be reached (McLeod, 2018). For example, imagine not having access to either food or water, or not being able to sleep for a few nights. Without any of these basic needs (for a longer period of time), it is hard to focus on other things. Let alone, focusing on love, self-esteem, and social contacts. However, what happens with this hierarchy of needs when we take into consideration the role technology plays in our daily lives.
Figure 1 – Left: Basic
Psychological Needs (Source: McLeod, 2018), Right: Needs fulfilled by
technology
Emergence of Technology
In the past few decades, the development of
technology exploded. Nowadays, there are even more active mobile devices than
human beings on earth (Boren, 2014). According to the real-time tracker of GSMA
Intelligence (2018), at the time of writing, there are 8.85 billion mobile
devices. These devices give us the possibility to be online 24/7. One could
question whether this development in technology helps us in full filing our
psychological basic needs. Figure 2 shows the Maslow hierarchy model, filled
with some technologies and applications which my help in fulfilling these needs.
Let us explain a few examples (see figure 1):
The first example is Wolt, a food delivery app.
It helps complete the physiological need of food and water. Delivery was around
before the use of the smart phone; however, the process has become so much
easier and wide spread. The second example is Fitbit. Fitbit is the most
common fitness tracker today. It helps up record our exercise and encourages
people to exercise through the use of gamification to encourage new “high
scores”. Fitbits also help with the physiological need of sleep. Most come with
sleep trackers that help the users' study and improve their sleep patterns.
Third example is AirBnB, which provides the ability to rent your own home. This
app helps to fulfil the physiological need to sleep by providing you a place to
sleep anywhere in the world. It uses the wide spread connection of the internet
to link people from all around to world to provide an alternative to hotels
with a sustainable, cheaper and more accessible solution. The last example
covers Tinder. Tinder provides a platform to satisfy the need for belongingness
and love by linking people around the world like other online dating solutions.
However, tinder can also be used as a solution for the physiological need for
sex, because of tinder is seen as the biggest promoter of “hook up culture”
(Nancy Jo Sales, 2015).
WiFi
As been discussed, Maslow created this order of human needs. The lower
the list, the more basic and important the needs are. Today’s society has
developed a lot since the creation of this plan in 1943. The model proposed by
Maslow might have become a bit outdated. Besides only helping in fulfilling our
basic needs, we might possibly add more needs that accommodate to today's
society. In our opinion, WIFI or a basic internet connection could be viewed
today as more important than any of the needs within Maslow’s list. This is
backed up by the fact that” Almost four in five people around the world believe
that access to the internet is a fundamental right” (BBC, 2010). It is
even so important that the UN declared a right to internet connection (Wilson,
2011). Maslow's theory is that in order to motivate people, these are the needs
you need to fulfill. However, the connection to the digital world has become so
embedded in society in the past 20 years that if you want to motivate someone,
you need to provide this, or they will feel “cut off” from the outside world.
All in all, we still believe that Maslow’s
diagram is still relevant in today’s society. However, in our opinion, it might
be valuable to take into account the need for technology that exists today, and
update Maslow’s model.
Figure 2: The 6th basic need (Source:
Pace Technical, n.d.)
References:
BBC News (2010, March 8) Internet access is ‘a
fundamental right’. Retrieved on
September 26, 2018, from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8548190.stm
Boren, Z.-D. (2014, October 7). THERE ARE
OFFICIALLY MORE MOBILE DEVICES THAN PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. Retrieved on
September 26, 2018, from Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/there-are-officially-more-mobile-devices-than-people-in-the-world-9780518.html
GSMA Intelligence (n.d). Definitive data and
analysis for the mobile industry. Retrieved on September 26, 2018, from
GSMA Intelligence: https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/
Wilson, Jenny (2011, June 7) United Nations
Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right. Retrieved on September 26,
2018 from Time: http://techland.time.com/2011/06/07/united-nations-report-declares-internet-access-a-human-right/
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of
human motivation. Psychological review, 50(4), 370.
McLeod, S. (2018, May). Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs. Retrieved on September 26, 2018, from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/simplypsychology.org-Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs.pdf
Nancy Jo Sales (2015, August 6) Tinder and the
Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”. Retrieved on September 26, 2018, From Vanity
Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/08/tinder-hook-up-culture-end-of-dating
Pace Technical. (sd). Is Fast WiFi the Most
Basic of Human Needs? Retrieven on September 26, 2018, from Pace Technical:
https://www.pacetechnical.com/fast-wifi-basic-human-needs/
Interesting post and clearly backed up with some articles! I like the clear examples of applications/technologies that you relate to Maslow's model. If I understood it correctly, you propose that Maslow's model should be updated to include the need for internet connection. I am just wondering whether we have developed a real need for internet connection or that we use the technology as a means to fulfill the same needs as explained in Maslow's original model - as you show in the picture. In other words: do you think that internet connection and technology is a need in itself or that we just changed the way in which we fulfill the same universal needs we have always had?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure myself ;) Maybe 24/7 internet connection is a new need in the way that we want to be able to fulfill the 'original' needs any time we want.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteSome very interesting ideas in your blog post. I, for myself, feel that Maslow's theory of human needs still applies to this day. I also feel that there is a big portion of our world that still strugles with fullfilling even the bottom level of needs and I wouldn't see internet connection to be anywhere near the needs that need to be fullfilled. I, being priviledged and having most of my basic needs fullfilled, still wouldn't see internet as a very fundamental need. Without having access to internet I would probably feel bored and "unconnected", but would most certainly survive. I might even find another way to amuse myself and then wouldn't necessarily even miss the internet.
I think it was a fun idea to explain the different levels of Maslow's hierarchy with apps that could help fullfill the needs. Who knows - in a few years it might be that those needs can't be fullfilled without such apps. In that case internet would most certainly be a very crucial need.
Noora
I agree with the other comments and argue that WiFi isn't really a basic need. I think WiFi is a really important means of fulfilling the needs in Maslow's hierarchy. I think the other needs such as belongingness and love are fulfilling on their own, whereas just having WiFi doesn't really provide you with anything yet. There is always some other need that you want to fulfill with the help of internet.
ReplyDeleteAnother point of view though is, that in today's society, many services are online-based, even public ones. If using important services is made impossible without internet, it is an issue of equality. This is why I would see WiFi or in general access to internet as a basic human right for people. A free public WiFi network would be good in a sense that it would offer everyone equal access to the resources found online.
-Jaana Tikkanen