More and more every day, people are immersed in a digital world that has revolutionized the way we live and the way we satisfy our most basic needs. This post presents Maslow’s Pyramid in relation to different technologies and digital applications.
Humans are the only animal species that creates technology to reduce our limitations and increase our capabilities on a continuous basis. We learned how to control fire to cook and survive in cold environments. We learned to manipulate metal to build tools of all kinds. We invent different types of vehicles to transport ourselves faster. We build airplanes and other types of air transports to fly. We invented the telephone to be able to communicate with people far away. And more recently we have created digital technologies, which are opening up a world of possibilities that would have been totally unimaginable before.
During 2020, humanity has suffered the effects of a global pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus, which has forced us to accelerate and intensify the use of digital technologies and applications to continue performing activities that are essential to us. Thanks to this type of technology, we have had immediate access to official sources of information, we have been able to keep in touch with our loved ones and, on many occasions, we have even been able to continue working remotely.
In short, thanks to digital technologies we have been able to continue satisfying many of our most important needs. In fact, all this has happened so naturally that we have not even been aware of the evolution we are living. Let’s analyze it for a moment with a tool that is well known to all of us: Maslow’s Pyramid.
In 1943 Abraham Maslow published his theory of human motivation, which is based on a hierarchy of needs represented in his famous Maslow Pyramid. Today, this model is still fully valid. However, the way in which we satisfy our needs has totally changed as can be seen in the following diagram, which represents the Digital Maslow’s version of Maslow’s Pyramid.
These needs are followed by security needs, those that give us access to the resources we need to live our lives. Today we do most of our spending through credit cards or digital payments via PayPal. In addition, there is a growing adoption of digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. On the other hand, today we access platforms such as LinkedIn to find new job opportunities and/or to continue to evolve professionally.
Humans remain a highly social species and need to communicate with others on an ongoing basis. In this sense, we have applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook that we use on a daily basis, both with our loved ones and with co-workers or members of communities to which we belong.
Nor can we deny that everyone, in one way or another, needs the recognition and respect of other people. There are applications that allow us to show who we are (or, in many cases, who we want to show ourselves to be) to our surroundings such as Instagram or TikTok.
Finally, the highest psychological and existential need of the human being is self-realization. That is, to live a meaningful life, a life with purpose. More and more people are searching for their purpose, finding it and deciding to live their lives oriented to this purpose. And in this context arises Purpose Alliance, a global community focused on empowering people to create a positive impact in the world aligned with their purpose.
Purpose Alliance emerged in early 2020in reaction to COVID-19 and many other challenges from thousands of people around the world. In this way, the last element is added to Maslow’s Pyramid in its digital version, making it easier for anyone in the world to access a global community that will support them on their own path of self-realization, thus creating a better future for themselves and for humanity.
Purpose Alliance: Empowering extraordinary people to create a better future!
