Abstract

Digital technologies are increasingly embedded in everyday life, shaping not only markets and services but also relationships, institutions, and civic infrastructures. Yet their integration is never neutral: while they can amplify voices, connect communities, and support care, they can also reinforce bias, dependency, and exclusion. This paper engages with these tensions through the lens of care ethics, positioning digital platforms not merely as technical systems but as moral actors whose design and governance deeply affect dignity, inclusion, and justice. Building on feminist philosophy, participatory design, and theories of intergenerational justice, the paper explores how digital platforms can shift from transactional logics—focused on efficiency, engagement metrics, and scalability—toward relational logics that prioritize trust, continuity, empathy, and co-responsibility. In this framework, technology does not replace human labor or emotional presence but scaffolds and sustains it. Features such as matching algorithms, reminders, or feedback loops are reimagined not as tools of optimization but as infrastructures of care, designed to support warmth, agency, and mutual recognition across vulnerable populations. A central argument is that care must be understood as infrastructure—a systemic web of social, institutional, and ethical commitments—rather than as private or individual labor. This redefinition has implications for platform architecture, governance, and accountability. Algorithms, for instance, allocate not only information but also care itself, raising critical questions about bias, transparency, and ethical alignment. The paper calls for transparent, participatory governance models, where multiple stakeholders—users, caregivers, ethicists, and institutions—share responsibility for guiding platform evolution. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the importance of human-centered metrics that go beyond clicks or retention rates to capture the depth, continuity, and equity of relational interactions. It also emphasizes the need for cultural adaptability, digital inclusion, and sustainability, especially in systems that mediate intergenerational connections between youth and older adults. Here, vulnerability is reframed as a shared human condition and a basis for agency, solidarity, and co-creation. The contribution of this work is both conceptual and practical. Conceptually, it advances the relational turn in technological design, offering intergenerational justice and care ethics as guiding principles for responsible innovation. Practically, it proposes design and governance strategies—such as co-design, value-centered engineering, ethical defaults, and intergenerational participation—that ensure platforms serve as infrastructures of belonging, not exclusion. In conclusion, the paper argues that the future of digital ecosystems lies in treating technology as a site of ethical stewardship, where values of dignity, reciprocity, and justice are embedded at every level—from algorithms to policies. By doing so, digital platforms can move beyond efficiency-driven paradigms to Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, Nantes, France, 2025 1 Designing Relational Technologies for Social Inclusion become sustainable social infrastructures that foster intergenerational solidarity, resilience, and human flourishing

Download

Share

COinS