The Hidden Cost of Digital: Why the Cultural Sector Needs to Rethink Its Online Habits

Our latest Knowledge Hub comes from Lightbear Lane, an Exeter-based team who create inspiring cultural programmes and creative place-making projects across the South West and beyond.

From the popular South West Shakespeare Festival to Lit Lab, their work champions accessible arts, literacy, wellbeing, and community connection. Collaborating with organisations including the University of Exeter and Historic Royal Palaces, Lightbear Lane delivers impactful, site-specific experiences that bring culture to rural and underserved communities. 

We got chatting with Lightbear Lane's Creative Director, Dr Judith Morgane, to find out about the hidden cost of digital and in particular why the cultural sector needs to rethink its online habits.

For most businesses in the cultural and hospitality sector, digital tools feel essential, harmless and largely invisible. Online bookings, social media marketing, email newsletters, review platforms - these are now the backbone of customer engagement. But beneath this seamless surface sits a reality the sector has been slow to confront: digital activity carries both environmental and ethical weight.

The assumption that “online” equals “low impact” is no longer tenable.

Every email confirmation, every Instagram campaign, every booking system query relies on a physical infrastructure of data centres, servers and networks. These systems consume vast amounts of energy, much of it still tied to carbon-intensive sources. The cultural sector, already under pressure to demonstrate sustainability in food sourcing, waste reduction and energy use, rarely includes digital operations in that conversation. Yet it should.

The issue is not marginal. Data centres now rival major industries in energy consumption, and the rapid rise of AI-driven tools - from automated marketing to chat-based customer service - is accelerating demand. For a sector that prides itself on attention to detail, this is a blind spot.

There is also the question of efficiency. Hospitality businesses generate large volumes of “dark data” - unused customer records, redundant mailing lists, outdated booking histories. These sit quietly on servers, consuming energy without delivering value. In an industry where margins matter, this is not just an environmental inefficiency; it is a business one.

A periodic audit of what data is actually needed and what can be deleted would reduce both cost and carbon.

It is the digital equivalent of turning off lights in empty rooms.

But the challenge goes beyond emissions. Hospitality and Culture are built on trust. Visitors and audiences share personal data every time they book a ticket, reserve a room, or sign up for a mailing list. Yet much of this data flows through third-party platforms - social media, booking engines, review sites - whose track records on privacy are, at best, uneven.

High-profile data breaches are no longer rare events; they are a recurring feature of the digital landscape.

At the same time, many platforms operate on business models that rely on harvesting and monetising user information.

For cultural brands who position themselves as customer-focused, even community-orientated, this creates a quiet contradiction. There is a reputational risk in relying too heavily on systems that do not align with your stated values.

Social media presents a similar tension. It remains one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences.

It is also an environment shaped by algorithms that prioritise engagement over accuracy or wellbeing.

Content sits alongside misinformation, aggressive advertising, and, at times, harmful material. Businesses have little control over that context.

None of this suggests that the cultural sector should withdraw from digital spaces. That would be unrealistic and commercially damaging. The question is not whether to engage, but how. A more deliberate approach starts with rebalancing priorities. Your website, not a social media feed, should be the centre of your digital presence. It is the one space you control fully - where your brand, values and customer journey can be presented clearly and without interference.

Social media should act as a gateway, not a destination: a way of directing people towards a more stable and trustworthy environment.

There is also a case to be made for doing less but doing it better. Marketing often falls into the trap of constant output: daily posts, frequent emails, messages scatter-gunned across numerous platforms. Yet volume does not guarantee engagement. In fact, it often contributes to digital noise and unnecessary data generation nobody pays attention to. Targeted, thoughtful communication is more effective and more sustainable. A well-timed campaign aimed at the right audience will outperform a scattergun approach every time.

Offline engagement, too, deserves renewed attention. Printed materials, local partnerships, and in-person events may seem old-fashioned, but they offer something digital channels cannot: direct, meaningful connection. In a sector defined by experience, this matters.

Finally, there is the question of infrastructure. Where possible, hospitality businesses should look at greener hosting providers and more efficient digital systems. These decisions are rarely visible to customers, but they form part of a broader commitment to responsible operation.

None of these steps require radical change. They require awareness, and a willingness to extend existing sustainability principles into digital practice.

The culture and hospitality sector have always been about care - care for visitors, for place, for experience. As the industry continues to evolve, that care must also extend to the unseen systems that support it.

Because the digital world is not weightless. And the businesses that recognise that early will be better placed to build trust, reduce environmental impact and stand out in a crowded market.

Lightbear Lane have recently commissioned research into ethical online marketing. This article is a summary and you can find the full paper by Eloise Cooper here.