Usage of Geospatial Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies and Evolution of Social Practices among Nigerian Youths

In the words of Zaryn Dentzel (1983), an erudite Spanish diplomat, technocrat and educationist, “The Internet has turned our existence upside down. It has revolutionized communications, to the extent that it is now our preferred medium of everyday communication.” This assertion is very true when we consider the obsessive usage of the various internet facilities by youths of contemporary day among who are Nigerian youths. Several researches have confirmed that youths are greatly endeared to the use of geospatial data due to the massive deployment of technologies that use the big data and algorithms, coupled with their unrestrained access to mobile and semi-mobile internet-connected appliances and technological gadgets of this 21st century. The study of Onwubere and Osuji (2020) particularly confirmed the fact that Nigerian youths are excessively exposed to these Geospatial Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies (GDAIT) to the extent that they influence their perception of Social Relations, negatively. This, of course, is of great concerns for the stability of the erstwhile peaceful and anthropocentric Traditional African/Nigerian Setting. These changes in social communication are also of particular significance to the Evolution of Alien Social Practices that may accompany Nigerian youths’ negative perception of social relations. Dentzel again, observed that Digital Technologies play vital roles in empowering individuals and communities, hence, the application of these technologies is “expected to increase productivity and competitiveness, change education and cultural systems, stimulate social interchange and democratise institutions”. Nevertheless, these laudable technologies and their roles also permit the pollution of minds and disruption of social relations in record time. Digital illiteracy may constitute a serious problem in low infrastructure countries like Nigeria where there are no adequate tools for filtering and censoring information and where children, youths and adults do not even have the requisite Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Education to discern the difference between ‘fake news’ and reliable news. The tendency is that, there will be an upsurge in youthful exuberances, since youths can easily publish and widely express themselves positively or negatively through these electronic media, unfettered by any financial constraints. These exuberant behaviours definitely have grave implications for social practices and social stability in Nigeria. This study investigates the relationship between the Usage of Geospatial Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies (GDAIT) by Nigerian Youths and the Evolution of Social Practices. The Gerbner’s Cultivation, Bandura’s Observational Learning and Veblen’s Technological Determinism theories serve as theoretical frameworks for the study. Since education is the greatest socialising factor for youths, and young adult students being the greatest users of modern Artificial Intelligence-based digital tools, institutions of higher learning have logically become the best and the most fertile ground to study the influence of GDAIT on socialisation and observe the evolution of social practices among youths. Hence, a survey of 300 undergraduate students in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria was conducted to elicit information from the youths, using the Stratified Random Sampling technique. Results will be analysed using appropriate statistical approaches, essentially, SPSS, to ascertain the relationship between the Usage of Geospatial Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies (GDAIT) by Nigerian Youths and the Evolution of Social Practices. Following survey results, utilitarian, constructive and constraining recommendations will be made to mitigate the damaging influence of the use of Geospatial Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies on the socio-political order.