Maslow’s Hierarchy is a hierarchy of needs that all people have. The hierarchy can be broken down into five categories: physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. By moving into the 21st century, the hierarchy is now applying to technology.
Physiological
Physiological needs include food, water, warmth, and rest. In the 21st century, people have cellphones and computers that they use on a daily basis. Cellphones and computers provide instantaneous communication with friends, family, people, and other countries. Without this, production would crumble and communication between people would be slow, unclear, and cluttered. Personally, I use technology to get information such as the news, which is a form of communication. Without it, news would be on a daily basis rather than on a minute-by-minute basis. This means that communication will slow down.
Safety
Safety needs include security and safety of oneself. Technology needs to be safe and have up-to-date security measures to prevent data from being leaked. Firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, security enhanced operating systems, antivirus software, and password managers are just a few security measures that should be put in place. For my home lab, I use everything in the list above to prevent black hat hackers from accessing my systems and personal data from being exfiltrated.
Belongingness and Love
Belongingness and love needs include relationships and friends. Cellphones and computers have made it easier to communicate with friends, family, and loved-ones. Text messages, phone calls, and social media make this able to happen. I use text messages and phone calls to communicate with all my friends, family, and loved-ones. This is because it is easy and convenient to use as it provides instantaneous communication.
Esteem
Esteem needs include prestige and a feeling of accomplishment. Accomplishment allows people to keep moving forward. For me, I feel accomplished when I code in Python, work in the cloud, find a vulnerability in an application, securing a system from outside threats, doing parkour, and learning a new skill such as solving a Rubik’s cube.
Self-Actualization
Self-actualization includes achieving one’s full potential. For self-actualization, I like to try to balance reality and the virtual world. For example, I have skills such as flying drones, parkour, and jujitsu. In the virtual world, I have skills such as working in the cloud, securing systems from threats, and ethical hacking experience such as hacking Wi-Fi passwords.
