The Good, the Bad and the Ugly : New Year Reflections

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

As the curtains are drawn on 2024, I feel calm. To some, this may sound strange; that I am not bursting with excitement for a “fresh start”, or anxiously creating a list of unattainable New Year’s resolutions. I feel calm, in the sense that I am grounded. Grounded by the slow-pace of the Highlands, grounded by a work environment that gives me autonomy in what I produce, and grounded by the genuine connections I have found with people that I would otherwise not cross paths with. 

I have, however, not always felt this way. As a fairly new-comer to digital inclusion work, I was, to put it bluntly, unsure. Despite being a born and bred Highlander, living in Glasgow for 8 years had pulled me away from a subjective, firsthand understanding of the good, the bad, and the ugly messy in the Highlands. Stepping back into a rural setting after almost a decade meant forgetting everything I knew and starting fresh. To some degree, I felt like an outsider; creating an unsureness about the scale of the gaps that I am addressing, the intersectional issues experienced by a new, larger demographic, and if potential partners would even trust my vision. 

After anchoring myself in the Discovery College, the project quickly began to take its organic shape. Shaped by the individuals that come through the door, shaped by organisations that are burdened with funding cuts, and shaped by the pressing issue of isolation, loneliness, and inaccessible mental healthcare. The Highlands are unique in that we have a whole different challenge to overcome; rural and remote locations, limited transport, and unsustainable community infrastructure. With only one mental health hospital for the whole north of Scotland – based in Inverness – many individuals are excluded from essential healthcare. An innovative solution to overcome this is offering mental health sessions via video call; however, digital devices and connectivity are still widely perceived as a luxury, and not a fundamental human right.

My concerns lie here; the more we innovate, the more we exclude. This has been borne out of my interactions with our learners, who have had an unequivocal impact on my own learning journey. They have shown me that digital inclusion work is much more than “doing”; it’s the living, the experiencing, the feelings that are felt. For a human rights issue, we must ground our movements in genuine human connection, patience, and a holistic understanding of the psychological, social, and emotional implications. 

As we hurl toward a digitally-immersed society, we can no longer say that “x doesn’t do that digital stuff”. When I reflect on what this means, certain interactions with my learners stand out. One individual in particular frequently talks about how we, as a society, are moving too quickly. We want quick fixes, want things to not be our issue, we want to get something done so we can move onto the next best thing. Another individual talks of how whenever they have asked for help in the past, they are shown dismissively and rapidly, leaving them feeling more confused and smaller than before. Reflecting on my own approach, I have definitely done this without thinking when helping a family member. Because it is just that much easier for me. But, my learners have taught me to approach this whole digital inclusion work with patience, slowness, and mindfulness, and for that I will always be grateful. If I am lucky enough, I too, will be an elder, looking to younger generations to help me with a new fiddly, over-complicated-but-simple-to-them piece of tech. We may not walk in someone’s shoes right now, but we may one day. 

But, I find at Mhor Collective, we do not succumb to the unhelpful mentality that “we don’t owe people anything”. Moving toward a just, digitally included society can be daunting when it feels like you are fighting late-stage capitalism, drowning in a superabundance of “the next best thing” while shouting “hey, you haven’t fixed this issue yet!”. But all we can do is keep doing our wee bit; and so far, we are doing just that. 

Truthfully, digital inclusion on a wider scale intimidates me. That is, looking to the future about the what ifs and what is to come. But while the future is scary, it can be less scary when you are not doing that journey alone. As we innovate our technology, we must also innovate how we can systematically reduce exclusion. And maybe just then, we can walk this weird and uncertain journey together.

So, going back to why do I feel calm? I feel calm as I have the utmost certainty that as long as we continue to strengthen our community with empathy, patience, and a holistic approach that values everyone’s needs, we can navigate whatever digital inclusion brings; together. 

 

All the best for 2025, 

Anya at Mhor Collective