I work in a social services. I´ve worked on field now about 12 years. My first thought was, that things hasn’t changed that much thought the years. Then I started to think again. Actually something has changed. 12 years ago our adult clients had to fill paper form, for applying our services. Nowadays we use mainly applications online. Earlier if we wanted to meet our client, we asked them to come to our office or we went to their home. Now it’s possible to have a meeting online. It´s very useful because for example my clients live all over in Finland. My office is at Hämeenlinna and I have clients for example in Oulu and Sodankylä.
Still the main key to our work is our own personalities and interaction. That´s something that you cant replace with robots or AI. They don´t have feelings and ability to give emotional support. On other hand there are so many personalities in our field working, who are humans and have same lack of empathy or lack of honest interaction, that sometimes machines could work better than us humans. Still I think that you need a human to support in systematical work, where the goal is to have positive change in people lives. Especially if customer has no own motivation at all.
It´s hard to see where we would need assistance from digitalization. Some of my colleagues start to try some application which changes spoken words to written text. The goal of that experiment is to try to found out could it be helpful in our work where we have to enroll our interaction with customer.
Open digital society has many risks. My clients are all 18-23 years old. Social media, world wide web and digital society is something that they think is as normal as walking. They don’t worry too much in what platform the put intimate information or pictures. Even if I say don’t send me your social security number on what´s app they do it anyway, because they don’t care. I feel it´s my responsibility to take care of their personal data when it comes to my working field. And of course it is, because I use government officials.
GDPR affects lot’s of the way how we work. We can’t have any kind of lists of our clients, it makes many things harder for example in TEAMS-environment. But it’s easy to understand why it is important. I appreciate my own privacy and of course it it important to offer came privacy to all of our clients. We just have to figure out new way to make different kind of lists.
During this course I tried first time AI. I asked how could we participate our after care clients to part of society when they don’t have own strong motivation. The answer was quite ok, but very theoretical. Also I asked what should we do with client whose electricity is cut off repeatedly. I didn’t actually get any help. At the moment I don’t know how could I use AI in my work.
The main thing that learned in this section was the fact, that e-mail is like a postcard, easy to read if it’s not encrypted. It made me think even more carefully how and where I send e-mails. I should learn more about the digital society.
I commented these two blogs: Kaisa K. & Hanna A.
Hello Niina!
I agree with you that digitalization has advanced a lot, but we may not necessarily notice it until we take a closer look. I also experienced as a nurse in the healthcare sector that there has not been much change. Of course there has been. Previously, patient records were kept on paper and there were, for example, paper medication lists. This is no longer the case, as everything is now recorded in a digital environment.
I also agree with you that, for example, remote connections are a functional and, of course, time- and environmentally friendly way to meet clients. Especially if the distances are long. We can also save time and money.
I also want to believe that robots and AI cannot replace the presence of another person.
It sounds like you’ve seen quite a shift towards digital in social services over the years, with online forms and virtual meetings now the norm. Yet, the core of your job—genuine human connection—remains unchanged. You’re right, tech can’t replace the nuanced support that comes from real people. And with the ease of sharing info online, guarding your clients’ privacy has become a crucial part of your role. You’ve given AI a shot for insights, but it seems it hasn’t quite lived up to the complex needs of your work. Plus, the whole email security thing has definitely given you something to think about in terms of safely communicating in our digital world.
Hello,
I agree that nowdays we can “meet” our patient/customer Online meeting apart where we are. But it’s different to meet face to face, at least first time. Fortunately I can use both way.
Maybe there need more information about digital security. Someone send many sensitive information and don’t care about risks and other be afraid and don’t use technical at all. I think that we need more information not just risks, also about opportunities.
Hi,
After reading your blog, i found some interesting ideas that you have shared regarding AI or automatization and the human factor. Despite our tendency to digitalize almost every process that we can, there is one thing that technology still have not been able to override, and its the human factor inherent to many of our day to day interactions. So I am quite curious to see how this topic will develop in the next few years.
Hi Niina!
Thank you for an interesting blog text. Lot have change in your working field. I agree that in many cases real human is lot more valuable servicer than AI. On the other hand, your customers are often young and might think otherwise on digitalization and might want more services online. But I think that perhaps younger generation needs most of all real human contacts than AI applications and online meetings are good solution for that. Security videos made me also to think how carefully I have been and how to act in future on this field.
Hello, Niina! It was interesting to read your post. Also I was lefting to think about the comparison between an email and postcard. I haven´t thougt that this way before. Need to check my personal security systems!
Your emphasis on the essential role of human interaction in social services is very appealing. While digital technologies and artificial intelligence can help you with certain elements of your business, computers cannot duplicate the emotional support and true connection that human service providers bring. This emphasizes the need of striking a balance between harnessing technology and keeping the human touch, which is critical for successful outcomes in social work.
Hi, it was interesting to read your article. A lot have change to make working easier. I am thinking same, what you write about personalities ans interaction. You can’t replace interaction between people with robots and AI. Feelings and compassion is something, that only people can do. And it’s very important when you work with people.
Hi Niina
and thank you for your interesting thoughts on digitization and the world around it. I agree that the development of digitalization has removed geographical barriers from communication and today customers or partners can be located anywhere in the world, and there is no need to set aside time for traveling as before. At certain events and meetings, this is a great advantage, but at least you have to meet the most important colleagues and customers regularly, also face-to-face.
The use of Al in converting spoken language into written language is certainly the next big step, which is widely used in many fields and I believe it will bring new opportunities for maintaining and archiving various records. I have understood that the Teams application also has such an opportunity, but I haven’t had time to familiarize myself with it yet, but I see a demand for this.
HI! You are right about that the new generation is so used to operate with all kinds of digital services, that they can easily forget the risks. As a professionals we have the responsibility to recognize and teach safe ways to use digitals platforms such ass e-mail, web sites and whatsapp. Using AI in our work isn’t all worked out yet as you refered but I think it’s eventually heading there more and more.
Thank you for writing such a great blog. We can admit that artificial intelligence has brought convenience and improved our lives. It has an essential impact on health care. Robots or artificial intelligence can assist people’s work at a particular stage but cannot replace people. The most apparent difference is in nursing, where human nurses have empathy and emotional interaction.