Instruction: 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.

Response: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs includes: physiological needs, safety needs, belonginess and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. Each level of the hierarchy of needs can relate to my experiences with technologies. For example, physiological needs such as having food, water and warmth are only made possible through making money and in order for me to make money I must keep my job, which just so happens to be a Cybersecurity job which relies on technology everyday to complete tasks. Safety needs are applicable to my experience with technology as firewalls, IDS/IPS and other tools must be implemented to protect my sensitive information, this may not seem all that bad but can absolutely be consequential by making identity theft possible. Next, belongingness and love needs, I rely on technology everyday to satisfy my communications between friends from other states that I would not normally be able to contact otherwise, this includes email, video chat, text, phone calls, etc. Now, Esteem needs, my self esteem is influenced daily when interacting with technologies, when I am able to complete my online assignments, I feel a sense of accomplishment through completing tasks on my computer and this can also apply in gaming. Good performances online can positively impact my self esteem, poor performances can negatively impact my esteem. Finally, self-actualization, not everyone reaches but it can be done, technology can make self-fulfillment possible by raising my esteem through completely independent projects, finding purpose in my life through online resources and creating/collaborating with other people via the internet to reach my full potential!