The Turkish Language Association (TDK) has selected “dijital vicdan” (digital conscience) as its word of the year for 2025.
According to the TDK, the word “vicdan” (conscience) is defined as the feeling that compels a person to judge their own actions and reflect on moral values, which has taken on a different dimension in the digital age.
“People often tend to 'ease their conscience' by sharing or liking posts on social media regarding issues for which they do not, or do not want to, take responsibility in real life. This situation passivises individual sensitivity and reduces conscience to a 'clickable action,'” the TDK said in a statement.
The association noted that internet users may feel they have fulfilled their “humanitarian duty” through likes, shares, and comments, limiting feelings of compassion and fairness to symbolic visibility.
“Therefore, the concept of 'digital conscience' should take its place in our language as a necessary concept that describes this new, often misleading function that conscience has taken on in the digital environment in our time,” the statement said.
Digital conscience prevents people from producing concrete solutions in the face of reality, thus causing the problem area to expand and deepen, said the TDK.
Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Monday on the US social media company X that the word was chosen through public participation, with approximately 300,000 votes cast.
"’Digital conscience’ stands out as a powerful concept that mirrors our individual and societal sensitivities,” he underlined, adding that conscience in the digital age is being reduced to a mere "click."
