Session
EURALO (At-Large, ICANN)
Filina Natalia, Secretary of EURALO (At-Large, ICANN), Western Europe, end users Laura Margolis, president of Internet Society Uruguay, Latin America, end users
Secretary of EURALO (At-Large, ICANN), Western Europe, end users
Laura Margolis
Filina Natalia
Targets: Sustainable, strong, healthy social ties between people are the solution to many problems of humanity, including problems of security, inclusivity, preservation of mental and physical health, especially children and adolescents, old people and people from disadvantaged segments of the population. Digital technologies can harm and isolate a person if you do not monitor the balance of real and virtual life, and observe digital hygiene. We have to take care of that technologies bring maximum benefit to people, not turning them off from the streams of real life, but enriching it.
Is the format of a live dialogue: a short video (2 min) and intro from the speaker, the question to audience, the answer from one of attendee (online or offline) and comment from speaker. And so for. After open dialogues (few questions and answers and comments) the speaker will go to conclusion.
Is the format of a live dialogue (intro-question-answer-comment) supposed to be about how far we have distanced ourselves from real life and the truth, being constantly online amid the chaos of content, fakes and truth, anonymous accounts, metavers, games, virtual offices and shops, virtual classrooms? As technologies and corporations, expressing their intention to take care of the maximum comfort of our lives have brought us closer to an antisocial lifestyle and loneliness. This light conversation aims to help all of us, taking advantage of all the benefits of the Internet, use the time spent online to be closer to each other and human communication, and not live in our own digital bubble.
We will accept questions and comments from online participants. We plan the session so that participants and listeners have the opportunity to have an open dialogue and present their opinions. After this session, we will use all communication resources to spread the polarity of opinions and the most interesting statements and thoughts. If there is such a technical opportunity, we want to show a short video before the discussion begins.
Report
The Internet offers us countless opportunities to communicate, work, have fun, and study online. And this great virtual world has made us more lonely – people live online and often prefer online life to real life.
The Internet is full of dangers for an antisocial person (teenager, elderly Internet user) – bullying, hating, deception, abuse, financial fraud, psychological influence groups, etc. – we need to talk about this, warn against dangers and along with strengthening digital opportunities, strengthen people's social ties.
Experts from different stakeholder groups should add to the discussion the technological aspect and the issue of universal access, which initially makes it possible for all people on the planet to be online, but with access it should provide protection and all the tools of digital security.
In our Internet governance communities to organize at least 2 events in 2025 dedicated to this issue with Experts from different stakeholder groups and different global regions to share challenges and solutions, to highlight the Global North and South specific with the objective to understand regional problematic.
To outline the range of dangers (mental and physical) that may result from the loneliness and isolation of the Internet user and try to offer ideas for solutions – from end users level, the Government, Technical experts, IT and Social Media platform owners, and business representatives.
It was a wonderful session that raised an important issue that is NOT so vividly reflected in other Internet governance discussion platforms, It is not customary to talk about the loneliness of people immersed in the digital world, because all digital tools seem to deliberately persistently involve us in digital reality and move us away from society and real people, opinions, and what is happening in real world.
This Lighting talk attracted a real interest. There were different opinions from very attentive listeners in the room, as well as questions about what to do to take into account at the level of behavioral metrics when someone from our digital environment is in danger, how the technological aspect will complement this topic, it will sound from different parts of the world, whether we can talk about an equal problem for everyone, when there is no equal Internet access for everyone?
These questions have to be answered in the future continuation of the talk.
Thank you for the opportunity to organize and host this session, for the support and attention of the audience, and for the desire to continue these discussions together.
And most importantly, for the desire to communicate to decision makers or those responsible for the social well-being and digital security of citizens of any country, exchange ideas on how to solve the problem of isolation in the network.