The Human Touch

Are technological advances isolating us?

Hi Zan, Hi Pa

Volume #17

May 25th, 2024

HI, ZAN:  I went to the local lab for a regular blood test today and the sign-in procedure was done outside the lab, standing at a machine, which took photos of my license and insurance documents.  No human contact at all.  I’m old enough to remember when someone pumped my gas, when I paid highway tolls to a human being (one summer I was that human being), when, if I needed to get money out of the bank, I spoke to a teller.  Now, even supermarket checkouts are doing away with the human aspect.  Some of this (not waiting in long lines to pay a toll) is great, but I wonder about the dehumanizing effect, the reduction of actual face-to-face contact.  Any thoughts?  

HI, PA: How sad that we’ve prioritized convenience over face-to-face contact. I fear that with recent developments in AI, this will only become more common…

One of the things I dislike the most about this lack of human contact is that it enables me to isolate myself. If I need to run errands but am in a bad mood or having a particularly busy work day, I’ll keep my head down when I head to the grocery store, use my app to find items rather than asking someone, and go through the self-checkout lane. I don’t even have to make eye contact with a single person and I can be back in my office with a stocked fridge and a brooding mind. (I can even order groceries to be delivered to my front door if I really don’t want to leave the house.)

Sure, it may feel good in the moment to stay locked inside my own head, but how much better might I feel if a conversation with a stranger jolted me out of my thoughts for a moment? What if the grocery store clerk also pointed me toward a limited-time deal when telling me where to find kimchi, or the cashier had a particularly warm smile? 

Those brief interactions may not seem like much, but their effect adds up over time. Do you have a sense of how human contact shapes your moods?

PA:  Sure, yes, very much so.  After the lab visit, I went to get the inspection sticker on my car renewed and there was an older guy in line ahead of me.  We had an engaging, ten-minute conversation in the waiting room of the garage, a chat that traveled from PSA tests (you don’t need those), to solar panels, electric bills, working part-time as a senior citizen (he was 77), and Tiger Woods.   Not a particularly enlightening conversation, but a nice few minutes all the same, and more fun than just scrolling through my emails.

I was reading the other day about AI girlfriends and boyfriends as an antidote to loneliness, and how the technology has already improved to the point where the AI ‘friend’ can sense your mood from your tone of voice and respond accordingly.  Seems weird, doesn’t it?