On a daily visit to Starbucks to get my fix of Venti Chai Latte, I observed a disturbing behavior with other customers. As they were waiting at the counter to get their cuppa, most of them had their eyes stuck to their mobile phones. Only a few looked up and said "thank you" when being served by the friendly barista. They acted as if he did not exist, and their phone was more important. To confirm my suspicion that this was not an isolated case, I visited a few fast-food restaurants in the same neighborhood and got a similar impression. Surprisingly, this behavior seemed to be the same among younger kids and middle-aged people. Only elderly people gave the servers a kind smile and a polite "merci."

I decided to run a little experiment and invited several friends living on three different continents to buy a coffee in Starbucks on my dime and visit at least one fast food restaurant (no, I did not invite them to buy a hamburger). Their task was plain and simple. Send me a WhatsApp message describing the people's behavior at the takeaway counter accompanied by some pictures. The information was revealing. The "glued to the phone" demeanor was almost identical everywhere.

This raises the question if technology enhances human interaction?

Sometimes my kids ask me how we used to communicate in the pre-technological-stone-aged-era of the seventies and eighties (yes, the last century). Thinking back, I wonder how fast the world changed in my short lifetime. Mobile phone, laptops, Internet, email, SMS, WhatsApp, Zoom calls, online shopping, food delivery via apps……

Maybe life was not better in the old days, but it was different. We appreciated our cocoon of privacy by reading a book in an airplane or a newspaper when commuting by train and ignoring our fellow travelers. However, there was always an air of politeness, a certain grace stemming from our education and social conditioning. This is not quite similar to the avoidance of human interaction that we see today.

In this age of super-fast communication and game technology, human contact seems to be rarer than ever. When we call a service center and have gone through six different and frustrating auto-attendants, we finally get an Artificial Intelligence on the line which treats us unintelligently. Family members message each other while being present in the same house. Kids talk to their friends through their headsets while playing online (sometimes violent) video games isolated in their room. Executives email colleagues with whom they are sharing the same office space. Entire business conflicts are fought and lost in the Cloud without people ever willing to face each other. It seems to be a symptom of the age we live in, where human interaction seems hard and best avoided as much as possible. While technology has facilitated global connections, it has also made it easier to avoid human contact.

According to a survey of 12.000 young adults between 18 to 24 years by Intel Corporation, 90 percent agreed that technology innovations make life easier, while 60 percent believe that people rely on it too much and make users less humane.

Does technology bring us closer together, or does it tear us apart?

Technology and connectivity have made the world a smaller place. It is doubtful, however, if it has also improved meaningful human communication. In a world where people prioritize to chat by phone, human communication becomes secondary. When human bonds are weakened, mistrust can be easily sowed. It is evident that social media contributes to people gathering in the Cloud to reinforce their single-minded opinions while rejecting the views of others.  Sociologists such as Bart Bonikowski[1] have noted how the rise of ethno-nationalist populism, authoritarianism, extremist groups, and militant organizations thrive on individuals' insecurity and isolation.

Rather than opening up people's minds, the Internet seems to provide a refuge for those who seek to confirm their preconceptions on any topic such as climate change, religion, politics, racism, and diversity. These biases are being reinforced by mass manipulation through fake news, social bots, malicious content providers, and audience targeting. Over the past decade, there have been ample examples of political conflicts and crises that proved that social media can be used for hate campaigns. The recent ISIS conflict in the Middle East may serve as an example.

How can technology better serve humans?

According to David E. Ny[2] we should accept technology because it is so ingrained in our lives. We should continue to engage with it.  However, we should become aware of how we harness technology and understand how to prevent tech-addiction.

Technology does not improve our humanity and cannot make us love our fellow man. It is up to us to have in-person conversations, put our phones down at the dining table, ask our loved-ones and friends about how they are, and say "thank you" to our barista. If we can do this, if we recognize that we are social creatures in the first place, we will first of all be able to form better human relationships enhanced by strategic alliances with technology.

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Dedicated to my friend Maxi, who brought this idea to the table during a Rosé infused lunch in Montevideo.

[1] Ethno-nationalist populism and the mobilization of collective resentment, the British Journal of Sociology, 2017.

[2] Technology Matters, Questions to Live With, MIT Press, 2006

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