Digital World Reflection | Original
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As of 2025, I am more aware of our world becoming increasingly digitalized. I go to the office 3 days a week and work online with colleagues who are also online. Even when I’m on the street or at the basketball court, I see many people around me, but somehow I can’t really see them. My world has become just my mobile phone and laptop. I see what’s displayed there and customize social networks to block certain words or languages.
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After I banned 30 commonly used Chinese words on X (Twitter), I can feel what a normal Western person’s social network experience is like. They couldn’t see the people who live in China in their daily feeds.
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Though I banned Chinese on X (Twitter), which is my mother tongue, I’m not against Chinese or Chinese people. I still use Weibo or NYTimes Chinese websites to stay informed about news from there.
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So in this world, people are living in their digital ecosystems—social networks, AI chatbots, e-commerce, and delivery apps. As time goes on, people develop worldviews based on the information that feeds them.
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If I lived abroad, I would probably have a different set of apps. People say there are Chinese local area networks and global local area networks.
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It’s not only Chinese versus global—in every country, industry, and career, people are living in worlds that reflect their jobs or surroundings.
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So in the future, people may be connected not just by apps but through their customized APIs. People will own their data and interact with others using their data, whether as individual users or enterprise employees.
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There will probably be fewer physical wars because of digitalization. People and countries express conflict through blocked networks or blocked contact lists instead.
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There will probably be more digital intimacy through digitalization. People choose their best friends from the internet. If you can’t find someone, you might let an AI chatbot help you.