Given a choice, would you order at the counter or at a self-service kiosk when making a purchase? Odds are, your answer is the latter. Before you start feeling defensive, there’s nothing inherently wrong with your decision. We are increasingly conditioned to prioritise efficiency; which we believe machines are superior vendors of than fallible humans.
There’s also the bias for dealing with an interface where you wield full control, and no one to inconvenience when you change your mind. It’s much less hassle to tap a few buttons than tell someone you’d now like to upsize the side and swap out the drink. Judging by the impatient grimace the attendant is showing, it’s likely they would prefer you to use the kiosks instead too.
Possibly when we were given the chance to create our own reality than live in the real world. I don’t mean a virtual one, but a virtually-enabled one. These days, most of our daily experiences are mediated. Algorithms suggest what to eat, search engines inform us which outlets are nearby, and the GPS directs us how to get there. Far from the first to point out how technology coddles us, author Christine Rosen posits these unintended consequences of the bargain we struck in embracing the Internet.
“Many of our current technologies seem to view people as the problem which devices, platforms and algorithms provide a solution,” she writes in The Extinction of Experience: Being Human In A Disembodied World, “If earlier technologies were an extension of our senses, today’s technologies train us to mistrust our own senses and rely instead on technology.”
So while the GPS is more accurate, it puts us in the role of spectators rather than navigators during the journey. This passive positioning extends to how we entertain ourselves—secondhand. We watch mukbang, e-sports, reality TV, reaction clips, unboxing reels, the list goes on.
In experiencing life through others’ perspectives, we forget that unlike a digital feed, unedited reality comes with spontaneity and its challenges. It demands active participation and adaptability which customisable, contactless service atrophies.
It’s a vicious cycle when we refuse to interact with real people. We attune to impractical expectations of how people should act, in turn developing intolerance towards actual behaviours whilst ourselves becoming more intolerable. Thus, choosing to retreat to the safety and predictability of augmented reality. Case in point: Online girlfriends.
Not saying that every email should be a meeting, but just as no high-definition video can replicate tactile sensation, face-to-face fosters personal growth and self-awareness the way no artificial intelligence can.
The cyberspace may offer a sense of community, but it is diluted in trust and emotional presence that genuine relationships require. These deeper connections also reflect in our approach to life. Watching someone else might be inspiring, but it is our own proactiveness that truly empower us. Whether exploring, learning or achieving, it reminds us that life is for living, not just observing.
