Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a psychological theory that suggests that human needs can be divided into five distinct levels which are arranged into hierarchical order. The first level being the bottom of the hierarchy which is physiological needs which is the followed by safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Each of these build upon the previous one and can be applied to how we use and experience technology.

  • Physiological Needs: Technology has made this need easy to fulfill and in the digital space things such as ordering food online or on your phone have become ever more commonplace. Other instances that digital technology has helped me fulfill my physiological needs is paying online for my rent to secure shelter, and paying my water bill online to have on-demand clean drinking water.
  • Safety Needs: Safety needs when applied to my experiences with digital technology could be the online payment security measures which encrypt my data during transmission, or any security measure that is in place for data integrity.
  • Belongingness and Love Needs: Digital technology has definitely helped me over the years to fulfill this need as it helps me keep in contact with friends using programs such as Discord. Even as all of us move around we can still be interconnected to a degree and still interact with each other.
  • Esteem Needs: Due to my experiences this one is likely underfilled in the digital space as I rarely post publicly in-terms of wanting prestige or the feeling of recognition. Ironically posting on this portfolio could be viewed as a way to fulfill this need. My most use-case for digital technology for recognition might be websites like LinkedIn posting about where I’ve worked and what I’ve worked on.
  • Self-Actualization: It wasn’t until the COVID-19 quarantine that I realized how much I utilize digital technology for self-actualization. The main outlet being the creative outlet as during the pandemic was that I hosted TTRPG (Table-Top Role Playing Games) for my friends and it greatly helped both in terms of mental health and having an outlet for my need to create things.