Teknologiasidonnassa

Teknologiasidonnassa is a term used in Finnish discourse to describe the extent to which social, economic, and political life is bound to technology and digital infrastructures. It blends teknologia with sidonnaisuus, signaling dependence rather than mere use. The concept denotes a condition in which essential institutions rely on digital platforms, cloud services, and data-driven systems to operate, coordinate, and make decisions.

Core dimensions include infrastructure dependency (telecommunications, energy, cloud); platform and ecosystem dependence (social media, app stores, marketplace algorithms); data governance and privacy; and algorithmic decision-making in both public and private sectors. The concept also highlights risks such as vendor lock-in, single points of failure, cybersecurity threats, and digital divides that may entrench inequality. It emphasizes that dependence can shape policy options, market power, and everyday practices.

Historically, teknologiasidonnassa gained prominence during debates on digital sovereignty, resilience, and critical infrastructure protection in the 2010s and 2020s, as societies became more reliant on interconnected digital systems.

Implications for policy and society include the need for open standards and interoperability, redundancy and resilience planning, privacy-by-design, strong cybersecurity, and digital literacy. It also raises questions about governance of algorithms, accountability for automated decisions, and the distribution of benefits and burdens of digital systems.

Research approaches are interdisciplinary, drawing on science and technology studies, political science, and information systems. Methods include case studies of municipal digital services, policy analysis, network mapping of digital supply chains, and discourse analysis. Teknologiasidonnassa relates to digital sovereignty, technostress, and surveillance capitalism, while intersecting with debates on technosocial systems and digital inclusion.