When Human Meets Machine.
The Time Before the Internet (B.I)…
The 1990s were a different world. Born in ‘89, I was one of the last generations to know what life was like before the internet. The day our family ‘got online’, I felt as if a magic portal had opened in our living room. I was captivated, fascinated and enchanted. Suddenly, I was a magician, learning how to navigate and shape the vast world that was suddenly at my 13-year old fingertips.
But fast forward more than two decades, and we as a collective are grappling with the consequences of that magic. The internet brought us incredible connectivity, yet it has also left many of us feeling more disconnected than ever. We’ve traded penpals for social media followers, and the lines between our carefully curated online personas and our true selves have blurred.
My late father used to say, “It’s the damn phones.” At the time, I thought it was just his typical resistance to change, but as I reflect now, I realize he was right. The damn phones were the gateway, the beginning of something bigger that we’re still trying to comprehend in real-time. It was subtle at first, but now, everything is on our screens—from the way we work to how we relax to how we interact with each other. We are more addicted to them than ever before.
And now, as AI is no longer looming on the horizon, but actually here, we find ourselves at another turning point—a moment where the next wave of technology might either deepen our understanding of what it means to be human, or take us further away from it. I want to take a closer look at where this digital journey has taken us—and where AI, with all its promises and perils, might lead us next.
From Penpals to Pixels: The Evolution of Connection
When I was younger (B.I.) was obsessed with penpals. I had 10 of them at one stage, both within Australia and around the world, and I loved the feeling of connecting with others through handwritten letters. The highlight of every day was checking my mailbox to see if there was a new letter inside. It was a slower, more intentional form of communication, for sure, but each exchange felt deeply personal.
The internet amplified this desire to connect, but it also changed it in fundamental ways. Now, we connect instantly and constantly, in rapid-fire conversations that span continents but often lack depth. In this era of endless notifications and quick posts, we’re learning that true connection requires more than a like, comment, or share—it requires presence, which is increasingly hard to come by.
The Role of AI in an Attention-Driven World
When we first started using digital devices, they were much simpler tools, designed to help us complete specific tasks. But today, AI and machine learning are woven into almost every corner of our digital experience, from the ads we see to the music we listen to and the posts that fill our feeds.
There are studies that indicate that our average attention span is now officially shorter than that of a goldfish. And it’s no surprise—every app, every device, every notification is vying for our time, our clicks, and our engagement. AI sits at the heart of this economy, learning from our behaviours and preferences to keep us engaged and often, to keep us coming back for more. It raises some big questions: Are we truly in control of our time, or are we becoming products of the platforms we use?
There’s a saying that a tool is something you use; it’s meant to serve you. It has a specific utility. But what happens when the tool starts asking you to serve it? With AI, the stakes are higher than ever. We have algorithms predicting what we want to see before we even know it ourselves. It’s no longer about utility; it’s about guiding and shaping our desires and behaviours, often in ways we don’t fully see or understand.
Identity, Autonomy, and Privacy in the Age of AI
Today, a vast number of children all over the world have social media presences from birth. Before they are even aware of it, or able to give informed consent, their ‘public personas’ are often curated by well-meaning parents long before they have a say in how they’re represented. This raises genuine concerns about identity, autonomy, and privacy, especially as AI continues to blur the boundaries between what’s “real” and what’s constructed.
Imagine the experience of a young person logging onto Facebook or Instagram for the first time, only to discover that their entire life has been documented online for years. What does this mean for their sense of self and their right to privacy? How will future generations navigate a world where their digital footprint was established for them?
In a world where AI-driven facial recognition can already identify individuals in a crowd and predict emotions from expressions, these questions gain urgency. Who owns our identity? When AI can aggregate every digital trace we leave behind, creating profiles that may know us better than we know ourselves, how much privacy and autonomy do we really have left?
These are not judgmental questions, but genuine ones. We’re all learning together, and as we move forward, it’s crucial to keep questioning these choices to ensure that our digital practices respect individual rights and long-term well-being.
The Promise and the Peril: A Balanced Approach to AI’s Potential
AI represents a massive leap forward, one with endless potential benefits but also significant ethical considerations. From medical advancements to climate predictions, AI has the power to tackle some of humanity’s biggest challenges. But it also has the capacity to erode some of the very things that make us human—our agency, our privacy, and our capacity for genuine connection.
What if AI is used not only to predict what we want to buy, but who we want to date, what we should believe, or even how we should vote? When does helpful personalization turn into manipulation? And as AI becomes more sophisticated, how do we ensure that it serves us rather than the other way around?
In this series, I’ll be diving deeper into these questions. My goal is to take a balanced look at AI, exploring both its promises and potential pitfalls. It’s not about fear-mongering but about staying grounded in what matters to us as humans—connection, autonomy, and ethical choices.
Author note: These reflections are based on my own experiences, shaped by decades of navigating the digital world as both an early adopter and industry professional with a background in digital marketing and technology. The views I share here are my own, developed from countless conversations, observations, and a genuine interest in how technology is transforming our lives. I’m committed to exploring these topics openly and honestly, acknowledging that we’re all learning as we go.
I hope this series will inspire you to think more deeply about how you use technology—and how it uses you. Technology has the power to shape us in ways we don’t fully understand, but by staying informed and intentional, we can navigate this journey with purpose.
