Assignment:

Review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and explain how each level relates to your experiences with technology. Give specific examples of how your digital experiences relate to each level of need

Answer:

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs suggests that every human wants to meet their most Basic Needs before moving to the “upper-level” of needs. According to the hierarchy our most basic needs are Physiological Needs – food, water, warmth, and rest – and then we have our Safety Needs – security and safety. We then move on to our Psychological Needs which are Belongingness and Love Needs – intimate relationships and friends – and Esteem needs – prestige and feeling of accomplishment. After that humans stive for the Self-Fulfillment Needs, Self-Actualization – achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities. However only few of us actually fulfill the Self-Fulfillment Needs.

If I were to project my life onto this hierarchy, in context of my experiences with technology, I would say my Physiological Needs were met when I was 14 and built my first PC. I would say that this is the first level of needs because to keep your computer secure and safe against hackers or viruses, you would first need a computer.

My Safety Needs were then met when I had downloaded and installed an Anti-Virus and learned how to safely browse the internet and learned to check if downloads are safe and trusted by others. This is definitely the next need when getting a computer to ensure that you are safe and do not get any viruses. If you do not accomplish this need then you will not know how to protect yourself in cyberspace.

After I had accomplished my basic needs I started fulfilling my Belonginess and Love Needs, the reason why I had gotten a computer. I started connecting with my friends online playing video games with them and creating watch parties. When I had gotten my girlfriend we started talking online and playing games with each other as well.

After fulfilling my Belonginess and Love Needs, I had not thought I would not need anything else, but then I remembered the feeling of accomplishment I had felt after successfully building my first computer. I had also started a computer science class and seeing my very first code function how it was supposed to gave me a great sense of accomplishment, and because of this feeling I figured out what my Self-Fulfillment Needs were.

I want to be able to build a script that can complete complex tasks, however I am very far from completing this task. Not only that, but I also want to be able to build my own Cybersecurity scripts, like Anti-Viruses or Honeypots. I am still very new to coding but these are the goals I had set for myself and thought that they fit well to being my Self-Fulfillment Needs, which have not been met yet.