By Osita Ifezue

For the first 20 years of my life, I did not have access to a computer or the internet. It was the age in Nigeria when telecommunications was accessible only to the rich and middle class. My memories of primary school and high school were fun though we didn’t have access to these technologies. We formed social bonds through physical interactions. Onegroup activity we did in primary school was to grind charcoal, and mix in water, to darken our blackboard. During such an activity, we would chase each other with our charcoal hands. While the teacher warned us to be careful not to get the charcoal on any part of our black and white uniform. Such activities form the foundation for developing social interaction skills. Fast forward to the year 2000 when I went to study at a university in Brazil, I was exposed to the power of technology. I soon realized the power it has to give access to information on the internet. I could send emails rather than post. Interact online with new friends from around the world using social media platforms, like Myspace, and Facebook. I sometimes question; whether would I have learned faster, easier, better, or not if I had access to technology earlier.

I have lived with and without these digital innovations. There is a need to be balanced when using and creating social interactions online or offline. There are moments in history when events occur to show the fragility of technology. Such events should awaken a reflection of how we embrace technology. For example in the 1990s the US stock market, the dot com bubble caused by the unsustainable growth threatened to collapse of the financial markets. The Y2K software error threatened many digital infrastructures. The 2010 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, where the data of millions of Facebook users was sold to political advertisers without consent. I have observed how social media has evolved humanity into a new virtual realm. We spend a significant amount of our time and lives interacting online. Sometimes the line between what is reality, authenticity, true is blurry. Artificial Intelligence is the new introduction to digital innovation. AI makes us feel like we are in a new civilization, where our old skills of human interaction do not serve us anymore.

The New World of Artificial Intelligence

In the last 10 years, we have seen the evolution of technology and the fast development of AI innovations. Social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have quasi-permeated every aspect of our lives. These platforms have transformed human social interactions both physically and virtually. It begs the question; how do we manage the fast-changing pace of technological advancement, while maintaining our humanness? These platforms bring major benefits and challenges that impact human interactions.

We have entered a new civilization: the new world of Artificial Intelligence! Many are still coming to terms with the benefits or implications of this technology. The rate at which we are experiencing novelty from the COVID-19 pandemic to AI becoming an integral part of our lives is something a lot of us are still trying to get a grip of. The argument aroundhow much AI will impact or invade our lives is a popular debate. Many fear the loss of jobs, the end of humanity, and the end of learning. The ramifications of the impact of AI are yet to be seen. There has been a call for regulation, which is necessary for safety measures. What I say is that we need to learn new skills of digital interaction with the new world of AI to manage whatever negative affects it will have on human social skills. Looking beyond the initial benefits like profit, cost saving, and speed, we need to look at the long-term implications of not preparing ourselves for the changes hitting us.

We need more investments in understanding what happens to our data and privacy. We need to understand and regulate human/AI interaction so that is acceptable to the human social fabric is not threatened. Many questions still need answers. Some of these questions would be: while integrating AI into our lives, what about data privacy? What kind of digital social interaction skills are required to keep up with digital transformation? How do we manage what is yet to come with AI and the level of interaction we would have with the digital world? How will AI be regulated? How do we form human relations and digital social interaction with AI? How do we manage the well-being of those whose skills and jobs are likely to be eroded by AI? Food for thought!

Technology has helped us expand the frontiers of business, collaboration, and social impact. We have created solutions faster and cheaper. However, there are still challenges. For example, we have not fully guaranteed data privacy or protection of intellectual property rights. As they say, data is gold, hence many corporations go the extra mile to collect, sell, and manipulate data for profit. Sometimes, we sign away our privacy with a click of a button, without reading through the fine-line of the privacy contracts. The data management process should be more transparent. Education on how personal data will be used should be made accessible to consumers.

We need to learn the soft skills of interaction between humans and AI. There needs to be regulation on the level of interactions with humans. Clear lines of what constitutes balanced interactions with humans and AI agents should be defined. This line will help us maintain the realities of the physical world and the virtual world. Learning to disconnect from the virtual world and reconnect with the physical world might be a skill to invest in. We need to put a lot of effort into it, given that we are going to be surrounded by AI in every aspect of our lives, from digital currency to invasive health solutions. Attention should be given to fair representation in the development of AI, so we can equalize many imbalances that currently exist. All demographics must be equally represented to maximize the benefits. Promoting the value of an inclusive design process that prioritizes open governance and representation is a priority. Yet, while we focus on developing AI, we need to be deliberate in maintaining humanness.

Physical Social Interaction vs Digital Social Interaction

While writing this, I called my childhood friend to ask him about the impact of not having access to technology in our earlier years in Nigeria. He said that technology didn’t make us more productive, or less smart than our peers when we migrated to the West, rather access to these technologies made learning easier. He noted that we had less access to certain information that we could have gotten online, and we caught up later in life. I will say that I agree because when we prepared for exams in Nigeria, we read Till Day Breaks (TDB), literally burning candles from the wee hours to dawn. When I arrived in Finland, I was able to equate the gap of not using technology from adolescence. My point is that technology makes our lives easier, yet it does not take away the inert human need for learning, and physical and social interaction. The pace of technological advancement is often frightening and might cost us freedom, privacy, etc. Hence modest use of digital innovations, not forgetting their fragility and volatility.

Paul Kengne, my colleague at Entergrate from Cameroon was interviewed for this article. His first access to computers and the internet was at age 12. I asked him how he benefited or was impacted by the lack of access. A senior developer at Finnair, he said his computer classes helped him become familiar and fast, but not necessarily more technologically literate. When he arrived in Finland and studied IT, his peers who had access to technology earlier coded better, yet he studied and was able to match their skill level. His social skills are better because of his early days of learning through human interactions. We concluded that our social and physical interactions were sharpened because he had a lot of physical interactions while growing up. An activity like darkening the board with charcoal helped us develop emotional intelligence.

We have been exposed to the negative impact of giving kids access to technology and social media. Research shows school and struggling to get the attention of students when in class. Some schools in Finland have phone lock boxes as a way to limit phone use during lesson times. Social media has become co-parent, in most cases the main parent because kids often spend more time on them. The increase in social anxiety disorder is a reason why we learn social interaction. If we imagine a world without AI or any kind of technology. Many picture chaos, anarchy, and doomsday scenarios if we go off the grid. Past civilizations carried on without modern technologies and gadgets as we have now. Probably we would resort to our default, learning social interaction, using creative thinking, problem-solving, and sharpened emotional intelligence.

Human intelligence is unique and resilient to change. Though we have entered the new world of Artificial Intelligence, we need to learn to harness and balance both. Corporations are investing billions to develop the best or most profitable AI agents. While that is important, more attention should go to understanding the future impact of this new age. We need to understand the future impact of the fusion of human interaction with virtual realities. To understand the impact of overall well-being, and how to solve negative effects and challenges as they arise, we should invest in not only developing the technology but also in learning the impact of our digital interactions. This requires the collective willingness to look beyond the immediate benefit to the future implications of human interaction.

We need to close the loop between those who are tech-savvy and understand the AI revolution so that we don’t inadvertently create a social divide. Many still cannot filter through the buzz to understand the shift happening in the AI world. We need to also close the gap between those who will be impacted and those disadvantaged from the lack of information about what is happening or going to happen. Learning to navigate the challenges of our transition is as important, as learning to use AI as we step into this new AI civilization.