Trauma in Tech (Part One)

Trauma in Tech (Part One)

Our current internet, which has changed the world as we know it, began with human genius. This genius gave birth to some exciting ideas which compelled a lot of people to action. Genius, like any human quality, can be used constructively, to benefit humanity. Genius can also be used destructively, to benefit a minority at the expense of the majority. Many tech companies are showing blatant examples of both.

Where do these two ends of the genius spectrum come from? The first constructive group comes from our healthy humanity. When we’ve had the experience of others meeting our needs growing up, we know how to give others what they need, and we desire to do this.

In contrast, the second destructive group contains people who have endured a lot of trauma—their needs growing up were neglected and abused. We can spot traumatized people by their behavior. In my lifelong experience with trauma and the traumatized, people with unresolved childhood trauma always act out or re-create their trauma in some way in their “adult” lives. I always put quotes around the word “adult” because these people are only physically adults. Psychologically, they are stuck at young ages. And, like small children, these traumatized souls automatically do to others what has been done unto them.

For example, a person who was controlled in childhood may attempt to control others as an “adult” because this is what he knows—it feels normal and right. If caretakers invaded his boundaries and made money off of him as a child, he, as an “adult” might invasively make money off of his fellowmen as with selling their personal information. If this person in his youth was consistently valued only as a commodity to be used for others’ purposes, he too will likely to continue this practice in his ”adult” relationships, using others in a manner that maximizes profit and minimizes expense.

As our internet moves are currently being tracked and profiled, the movements of those that have created and maintained this increasingly controlling system were also closely monitored when they were young. Just as our preferences are being manipulated by some search engines, so were these people’s preferences when they were growing up—they were even manipulated to believe that they want to similarly pass on their pain to their fellowman, so this is what they are doing.

While our physical eyes show us brilliant men and women behind these advanced technologies gone awry, psychological vision reveals traumatized people stunted at very young psychological ages, Each malevolent action is an imitation of what they have known. Imitation is the youngest child’s way of learning. Within each devastating loss of freedom, we can hear the desperate voices of the youngest of humans crying out, “This is what happened to me!”