In the age of digital transformation, does analog sensibility still matter?

Digital transformation is efficient, but we still need to consider the importance of analog sensibilities.

 

At 4 a.m. on December 31, 2012, the South Korean government shut down analog broadcasting services across the country. Those without a digital TV receiver or digital converter were unable to watch TV, and the Digital Transition Special Act was amended to provide support for converters or digital TVs for the economically disadvantaged. The switch from analog to digital broadcasting was not only to improve picture quality, but also to revitalize the content industry related to TV programs and encourage the growth of HDTV and 3DTV manufacturing. In the 21st century, we have moved to digitalization in most aspects of our lives, but are we moving in the right direction with the constant search for faster and more convenient technology?
An analog or analog signal is something that is continuously varied by an external factor, like the scale on a car speedometer. Most of the information we receive from nature, such as temperature, can be represented in an analog way, and for a long time, we have stuck to the analog way of representing nature as it is. The biggest disadvantage of this method is that noise is generated in the process of recording and transmitting information. As anyone who has ever listened to music on a vinyl record knows, there’s a subtle “crackling” noise that occurs throughout the music as it plays. As signals are created, replicated, and transmitted, noise is inevitably added, and it’s impossible to remove 100% of it because it’s not easy to distinguish from the original signal.
Digital, on the other hand, where information is represented and stored as a combination of zeros and ones, is never noisy. As the saying goes, “all or nothing,” even complex signals are recorded in the form of 0s or 1s, so no matter how many times they are copied and transmitted, no information is lost or noise is introduced. In the old days of analog broadcasting, video information was converted into a continuous form and delivered to homes. In this process, unnecessary signals were unintentionally mixed in, causing noise such as smeared colors and distorted shapes when watching TV. By switching to digital broadcasting, you get a clearer picture without that noise.
Another advantage of digital is that it’s much easier and more efficient to store, reproduce, and deliver than analog. Analog records such as photographs and vinyl records tend to deteriorate over time, and the reproduction process can cause distortion. However, digitally recorded information, such as CDs, can be copied as many times as needed without any changes, making it easy to deliver to a large number of people. In recent years, with the rapid development of computers that use the binary system of 0 and 1, digital signals can be processed by computers and utilized in various ways. In the era of smartphones, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is impossible to live without the information we get from computers and smartphones.
Digital has become so efficient and pervasive compared to analog that it has laid the foundation for many modern technologies. However, there have been recent examples of the efficiency of analog. A few years ago, the Russian government purchased 20 old-fashioned typewriters to prevent hacking from leaking sensitive information. Sales of vinyl records have also skyrocketed in recent years as more people seek out “real music” that doesn’t lose sound. According to music magazine Rolling Stone, vinyl sales in the U.S. grew 52% in 2014 compared to the previous year.
The most important thing in the development of analog technology is ‘know-how’. Since equipment such as speakers and camera lenses operate analogically, it takes years of experience and know-how to refine them to make them sound and look good to humans in order to create products with excellent performance. Analog conveys the subtleties of human emotion, whereas digital does not because of the nature of information recording. It is very important to add analog sensitivity that can make people feel familiar, even if we use devices and technologies that are contrary to nature, where everything changes continuously over time. Just as a sandwich from a popular fast food restaurant feels different from a sandwich you make at home, so does technology. I’m not saying one is better or worse than the other, but at the very least, we should start thinking about how digitalized science and technology can be used in a human-friendly way.