The Cultural Lens: Exploring How Culture Shapes the Development and Adoption of Technology

Covid-19 is the most recent pandemic that humanity has faced which was responsible for shutting down the entire world for over a year. Despite this virus being universal, every country dealt with this threat differently. During winter of 2021, I had the chance to visit Singapore for three weeks. And this experience showed me just how differently some countries were handling Covid-19 compared to America. In Singapore, I saw how they used their technology to keep track their citizens to manage their Covid-19 cases. After experiencing their methodologies firsthand, I couldn’t help but wonder why Singaporeans are okay with this tracking and why aren’t Americans okay with it. This essay will address how Singapore used tracking technology to combat Covid-19, the culture of Singapore and how this affects their opinion of such technologies, and finally a reflection on how Americans would react to our government implementing Covid-19 tracking.

 Singapore is a relatively small and densely populated country, but despite this Singapore managed to maintain an extremely low number of Covid-19 cases. When Covid-19 appeared, Singapore closed for over a year and implemented mask and isolation mandates. However, unlike most countries, Singapore implemented a Bluetooth tracking system to combat the spread of Covid-19. During my winter trip, Singapore had just recently opened but was still extremely cautious about the spread of Covid-19. When I entered Singapore, one of the first things I noticed is just how differently Singapore’s response to Covid-19 was compared to America. While Americans were extremely apprehensive towards any form of government control, Singaporeans seemed to openly accept and encourage this government intervention. One of the most shocking experiences I had was when I realized that every citizen had to carry a Bluetooth tracker or download a Bluetooth tracking app on their phone. Singaporeans had to scan these trackers at every entrance of every store or building they entered. On top of this, these Bluetooth trackers would also connect with and log the time and location data of every Bluetooth tracker it came in proximity with. Using this data, the Singaporean government knew exactly where its citizens were and who they interacted with. Because Singapore knew the location and interaction data of their citizens, the government was able to contact people who were in proximity with an infected person and warn them to get tested. Since Singapore used this tracking technology to combat Covid-19, they were able to swiftly stop massive outbreaks and keep a low infection rate. I remember speaking to some Singaporeans and being surprised by the fact they thought having fifteen new cases in a week was worrying. At this point in time, America was getting tens of thousands of new cases every day. Despite my apprehension, it remains clear that that the usage Bluetooth tracking helped saved lives and contained the spread of Covid-19. Despite seeing these conclusive results, I still couldn’t help but wonder what made Singaporeans accepted Bluetooth tracking to begin with.

 Singapore is known throughout the world as being a bustling trade city with many opportunities, but also being a country that is extremely strict and authoritarian. In fact, my Japanese friends told me the nickname they have in Japan for Singapore is “Open North Korea”. Singapore is notorious for their strictness with well-known cases such their usage of caning as a punishment, the liberal usage of the death penalty, as well as the more recent controversial example of them executing a man, who many believed to be intellectually impaired, for smuggling two pounds of marijuana into Singapore. Despite this reputation, Singapore itself boasts the record of being one of the safest countries in the world, has extremely well-built infrastructure and public transport, as well as a satisfied population. After being to Singapore and speaking to my Singaporean friends, it became clear that despite the reputation, Singapore does truly care about its citizens and the citizens have a large impact on what occurs within government. The small size of Singapore creates a unique situation where the government must listen more intently to what the population wants, which in turn has created a large amount of trust between the citizens and the government. What I also learned from my visit to Singapore, is that despite the country being authoritarian, many citizens were apprehensive about using tracking. The government assured the populace that the tracking data would only be used to fight the spread of Covid-19 and this assurance is what made the populace comfortable with these trackers. For Singaporeans, helping the collective good was worth the risk of giving the government the ability to track its citizens. However, this doesn’t mean Singaporeans wanted the tracking data to be used for other purposes. When the Singaporean government gave permission to certain police officers to use this tracking data to help in investigations, many Singaporeans expressed their concerns. There were movements on twitter calling out the government, some Singaporeans started to throw away the trackers in protest, and their government received great deal of backlash. I believe the entire Singaporean response to the usage of Bluetooth trackers perfectly encapsulates the culture that Singapore has. Singapore is a collectivist society that is accepting of authoritarian practices if they result in the benefit of entire populace. And this mindset is ever present when Singaporean makes decisions to allow the usage of certain technologies such as facial recognition. When I reflect upon seeing Singaporeans encouragement of using Bluetooth tracking to fight Covid-19, I started to think about how Americans would react to using Bluetooth tracking.

 The American response to Covid-19 was one filled with division as it seemed Americans were split on the idea of whether implementing mandates was the correct decision to make. Throughout the entirety of Covid-19, Americans have been fighting over if we should wear masks or disregard them, if we should lockdown and stay open, and if we should be vaccinated or unvaccinated. With every decision being met with ferocious opposition, America was left with what seemed like half the states choosing to follow mask mandates and isolation orders while the other half chose to not have any mandates nor lockdowns. Alongside this huge division, many conspiracy theories came to light with many people believing that Covid-19 was some government ploy or fabrication to gain more power. With all this division and infighting, it becomes clear that Americans would have rioted if mandatory Bluetooth tracking was implemented. It isn’t as if Americans are opposed to the idea that you need to sacrifice some freedoms if you want safety and security. After all, Americans were in support of the Patriotic Act after 9/11 which allowed the government to spy on suspected terrorist and even strip certain rights of those believed to be involved in terrorist activities. So why is it that Americans were in support of one authoritarian policy but are against the idea of masking, isolating, and even tracking to help combat Covid-19? The answer to this question appears once you consider the culture of Americans. Some of the most sacred and widely held beliefs among Americans is freedom must always be protected and tyranny must always be fought. These beliefs are constantly reflected through the policies and practices that are supported by Americans. Americans supported the Patriot Act because it was made to fight against the tyranny of terrorists while being advertised to not infringe on the freedom of non-terrorists. Americans supported wars in the Middle East because they were against dictatorships who many believed threatened our freedom. Americans love guns because they can be used to fight tyrannical governments and secure our freedom. The list is endless, but it is clear by looking at American history that these beliefs about protecting freedom and fighting tyranny stand as the core reasoning of whether Americans will support or fight against certain practices. While keeping this in mind it becomes clear why Covid-19 responses were so divisive. Many people saw having mandates and lockdowns as a threat to freedom and actions of a tyrannical government. The question became whether this threat of personal freedom and risk of tyranny is worth the safety and protection from Covid-19. These beliefs also make it clear why many Americans could never accept Bluetooth tracking because tracking citizens is generally seen as a huge infringement of freedom and something only authoritarian governments would do. When I arrived in Singapore, I felt extremely uncomfortable because within moments the Singaporean government collected my biometric data, such as facial, iris, and fingerprint identification, but also because the Singaporean government was constantly watching me. I was uncomfortable because the amount of freedom that was sacrificed to obtain the safety found in Singapore was an enormous change of pace. However, the longer I stayed in Singapore, the more comfortable I felt. As I experienced the safety, security, and other benefits of Singapore, the more I found myself being okay with being watched and having certain freedoms taken away. This caused me to feel conflicted by the end of my journey because from my American perspective allowing the government to track citizens was a huge violation of freedom and was a slippery slope to more authoritarianism. But, after experiencing the benefits of these practices, I formed a new perspective that allowed me to see just how beneficial sacrificing these freedoms can become. In essence, my American ideals were conflicting with these Singaporean ideals. But because I was able to experience this difference of culture, I was able to gain a more enlightened perspective.

 During my trip to Singapore, I was able to experience many new things and I learned a lot about other cultures. But one of the most important things I gained from this experience was a greater appreciation for the differences between cultures and how beneficial it is to study these differences. My exposure to Singaporean culture allowed me to reflect more about my own culture, but more importantly it showed me how exposing myself to different cultures can allow me to gain new and important insights. From this journey, I saw firsthand how a technological solution such as Bluetooth tracking can become instrumental in preventing the spread of a deadly virus, but at the same time this technology could never be accepted in certain countries due to cultural beliefs. This realization taught me that engineering is more than just building a solution, but rather engineering more about the people you are building this solution for. I believe understanding this fact is instrumental in my pursuit as an engineer because this shows how much a cultural belief can affect how certain problems are solved. It showed me how vital it is to consider other cultural perspectives when engineering a solution because the perspective of other cultures can provide valuable insights and criticisms. I truly believe that exposing myself to such a different culture and being able to witness this cultural difference has changed the way I think about engineering for the better.