Youngsters are taught some basic etiquette and how to connect with others

A NEW business in Finsbury Park is teaching young people “basic human etiquette” such as looking someone in the eye and giving up a seat for someone, after a generation grew up in front of screens.

Mango Studios LDN co-founder Chantelle Lewis said technology has “literally ruined human connection” for young people as they are unable to hold a conversation after spending all their time on smartphones and computers.

She said: “Especially now in this era of technology, soft skills are becoming [obsolete]. It sounds easy to us because obviously we grew up before VR [virtual reality] and all this stuff. But the young people now are suffering, they don’t know how to have a conversation. They don’t know how to look someone in the eye because now that everything has become digitised, it’s literally ruined human connection.”

Nathan Smith and Chantelle Lewis

Her company, which she set up in 2021 with her partner Nathan Smith, intertwines the potential of VR with coaching young people who have come through their doors unsure how to handle normal day-to-day situations.

Among the services they offer at their Fonthill Road office are self-empowerment courses, which use VR headsets to help youngsters “find their power, own their power and use it to improve their life”.

Another course called Get Social, which is billed as supportive to people with neurodiversity, helps improve social skills along with basic etiquette such as looking into someone’s eyes and giving up a seat for someone on public transport.

So far they have worked with 70 young people and have had their business featured on national television. They have also just won a contract with the Natural History Museum.

Ms Lewis said she thought artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to dominate society, but she insisted it can “never replace humans”.

“You could teach AI how to compute 10,000 by 10 million but human relations, human connection, empathy and emotiveness, you can’t teach an AI how to do that,” she added.