Value of work in relation to cyber threats in the development of new competencies of social workers in the local environment

Abstract

Work is a primary value in every generation. Nowadays, many activities at work are performed on computers that use information, data, knowledge or applications taken from cyberspace. It would be difficult to imagine the functioning of socio-economical life without the use of Internet resources. Computers have become “intimate” tools that modern people use to alienate themselves from the real public life. A hybrid reality begins to form, where various threats appear and may result in psycho-physical disorders that violate human dignity. Work is being limited to the level of “labor”, which is connected with the hardship of work. However, the level of “opus” related to the joy of creation in the work process becomes marginalized in the globalized hybrid reality. Older people, in particular, may feel lost and torn when being faced with making moral decisions. In the next years, as projected by the Central Statistical Office, the elderly (aged 65 and more) will represent 23,3% of the population in 2035, which accounts for a 10% rise in comparison to 2007. Significantly, the percentage of people in the “fourth age”, i.e. at the age of 80 or over will amount to 7.2% in 2035, whereas, it amounted to 3% in 2007 [1]. Therefore, social workers, who represent a social trust occupation, should have an obligation to acquire new qualifications. The new qualifications based on the new competences of workers in the local community should not be limited to being only the executioners of the legislator when performing activities related to social help. They ought to possess legal options to react promptly in threatening situations and have the ability to produce creative social solutions in order to avoid pathological events and create new activity places for older people, develop universal security measures for the threats that are not yet present today, which can be done by shaping responsible behaviours in the hybrid reality that respect human dignity at every stage of life.