Technology Touchpoints, Benefits and Risks

Technology has transformed the average Indian’s daily interactions with the community, markets and government.

The Indian population has varying patterns of digital consumption, depending on their levels of digital literacy, needs, accessibility and financial stability. Based on this continuum of technology usage and risk perception, we identified key personas and looked at how individuals use technology, what benefits they seek, and what risks they consciously and unconsciously expose themselves to.

Exhibit 1: Key personas, the benefits they seek, and the potential risks they face

Amisha is the Vice President of a leading MNC and lives in Bangalore.

Mahesh lives in Coimbatore. He owns a midsized retail business.

David lives in Raipur and works as a car driver for a digital cab service company.

Sandhya is a micro entrepreneur in the apparel industry and lives in the outskirts of Ranchi.

Shabana is a 19 year old college student residing in Lucknow.

Kishan is a smallholder farmer in Banswara, Rajasthan.

Manoj is a 39 year old migrant construction worker in Hyderabad.

Shikhar is a 17 year old school drop-out from a low-income neighbourhood in Delhi. Last year, he lost an arm in an accident.

Shanti is a transgender woman living in interior Odisha. She is a folk dancer.

She loves sharing her experiences on social media and uses digital platforms frequently to order goods, plan her work and for other conveniences.

He is an active user of digital payments, and e-commerce platforms. He has listed his business on leading e-commerce platforms.

Working with a digital platform has provided him with a flexible income opportunity. He actively uses digital payment platforms and navigation apps.

Her personal information, internet usage history, and purchase history is available online and she is vulnerable to unauthorised use of this information.

He is vulnerable to the unfair and monopolistic practices of large businesses.

He doesn’t have any accident/health insurance. His working hours and minimum wage are also not fixed. This is largely due to the nature of employment with the digital platform.

She uses digital payment and banking services for her enterprise. Sandhya has limited digital understanding and, hence, is vulnerable to frauds.

She actively uses digital media for educational, communication and content creation purposes.

He uses his family phone for information, connectivity, and access. He has linked his phone number to Aadhaar for welfare services.

He uses his second hand smartphone for online games, social media, and occasionally for remittances.

After dropping out, he uses his second hand smartphone to connect with his social network and for entertainment purposes.

She wants to get access to an Aadhaar card so that she can easily avail government benefits.

* These fictional personas have been developed to provide context on how risks manifest in individual lives.

While accessing online classes and expressing herself on social media, she faces the risk of online misogyny and harassment.

Excessive dependence on unauthentic online sources of information has the potential to mislead him.

He was misidentified due to the algorithms in the new facial recognition technology.

The excessive time spent in the virtual world is posing risks of addiction, anxiety, and sleeping disorders.

She is unable to access welfare schemes like ration distribution.

Over the last decade, technology has unlocked significant benefits for the people of India. However, across the various roles an individual plays in society, there is a trade-off that an individual makes when she interacts with technology.

When we studied each persona and their interactions, it was found that an individual’s digital interactions can be distilled through their interaction with community the (Samaaj), government (Sarkaar) and market (Bazaar). Across these digital touchpoints, individuals derive benefits including connectivity, increased awareness, enhanced livelihood opportunities, customised products, and efficient and transparent government processes. However, in the process, individuals are also exposed to risks of online harassment, misinformation, and data breaches, among others. The figure below represents eight key touchpoints that have significantly changed an average Indian’s life and the key risks that must be mitigated towards building a safe and inclusive digital society.

Access to information

Increased awareness, knowledge, opportunities

Misinformation and fake news

Connectedness

Improved means of community support, connectivity and ability to organise

Online Harassment

Content creation opportunities

Increased avenues for expression and diversity of opinions

Negative impact on mental wellbeing

Digitised services and welfare schemes

Simple, efficient and transparent processes for welfare schemes

Exclusion from digitally delivered services

Touchpoints

Risks Benefits

Affordable and personalised products and services

Customised Products

Non-consensual or unauthorised data collection, sharing and usage

Data security breaches and online frauds

Access to diverse income generation activities through gig economy

Increased avenues for livelihood with flexible work dynamics

Poor social security benefits for gig workers

Integration of businesses through digital platforms

Cheaper and more integrated products

Monopolisation and market concentration

Technologies for safety and law enforcement

Improvement in safety and law enforcement

Risk of surveillance due to emerging technologies