“We need people who find meaning in technology, not surrender to it”

In a digitalized world, artificial intelligence touches every aspect of human life. However, there is one thing that is decreasing with this transformation: human connections, empathy, awareness and relationship skills. Altınbaş University Faculty of Pharmacy faculty member Prof. Dr. Buket Aksu pointed out that the only skill set that keeps people alive and will make a difference in the future is social and emotional competencies. According to Prof. Dr. Aksu, these skills are indispensable not only for personal success but also for a healthy society, sustainable institutions and a peaceful future.

A forgotten skill in a digitalized world: Being human

With the rise of artificial intelligence and automation, job descriptions, business processes and expectations are changing in many industries. Today, algorithms can calculate like an engineer, produce text like an editor, and design like an artist. But they can neither understand an emotion nor know the value of eye contact.

Prof. Dr. Buket Aksu said, “We need people who find meaning in technology, not those who surrender to it.” At this point, Prof. Dr. Buket Aksu drew attention to the vital importance of social and emotional skills and said, “These skills include emotional intelligence, self-awareness, relationships with others and the power to make responsible decisions.”

Emphasizing that these skills have an impact not only on business life, but also on child development, education and even the general health of society, Aksu stated that emotional literacy should be acquired at an early age and said, “A child should grow up by being nourished not only cognitively but also emotionally. When these skills are not developed in childhood, individuals have difficulty in establishing healthy bonds with both themselves and their environment in later life.”

Why have social and emotional skills become critical?

“With the pandemic, digitalization has accelerated, but human relations have weakened. As social contact has decreased, our ability to empathize has also eroded,” Aksu said:

“Not only individual loneliness, but also institutional conflicts and social polarization are the result of this weakening. Research shows that team communication problems, high employee turnover and low engagement rates in workplaces are mostly due to lack of social skills, not technical ones. Likewise, the sustainability of students' academic success is directly linked to self-regulation, motivation and relational skills.”

“The improvement of society is possible not only with economic or structural policies, but also with the emotional equipment of individuals,” said Prof. Dr. Aksu, ”At the same time, these skills are the cornerstones of social peace and crisis management. Individuals with high emotional intelligence tend to find solutions instead of escalating conflicts, and accept differences as richness instead of seeing them as threats. The improvement of society is possible not only through economic or structural policies, but also through the emotional equipment of individuals.”

Why do we use the CASEL Model?

CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning), one of the world's leading institutions for the scientific grounding of social and emotional learning, offers a systematic framework. Prof. Dr. Buket Aksu stated that this model offers a structure that can be applied in every field from pre-school to university and to the business world, and explained the five dimensions as follows:

Five dimensions of social and emotional learning according to the CASEL Model

- Self-awareness: Recognizing one's own feelings, strengths and weaknesses. An individual who does not know himself/herself cannot develop a healthy attitude towards others.

- Self-management: Managing stress, setting goals and achieving these goals despite emotional fluctuations.

- Social awareness: Being sensitive to different cultures, mindsets and individual experiences. According to Aksu, this is the ability of multicultural societies to live together.

- Relationship skills: Establishing healthy communication, cooperating, resolving conflicts constructively. This skill provides competitive advantage not only for individuals but also for organizations.

- Responsible decision-making: Being able to discern what is right in line with ethical principles. To be able to decide humanely among the unlimited options offered by technology.

Human skills are the greatest investment of the future

Prof. Dr. Buket Aksu also said that the biggest luxury of the 21st century is not time, but the ability to build meaningful relationships and deep bonds, “Social and emotional skills are the key to building, maintaining and transforming these bonds. There is as much need for emotional intelligence in a society as there is for artificial intelligence. Trainings in this field are essential for social peace, solidarity and prosperity beyond individual development.”

The question before us today as educators, administrators, decision makers and parents is: 'Will we entrust the future to robots or to people with emotions?' The answer is clear: Only humans have a monopoly on emotions, meaning and the ability to connect. Therefore, developing social and emotional skills is a strategic investment for the sustainability of both individuals and societies.