A designer recently posed an interesting question to me.
Are people starting to communicate with other in the same way they would with an AI?
He had received a message from a friend asking for design advice, but he decided not to help – why? Apparently the friend wrote to him in an odd way, not as though he was a friend, but as though he was talking to an AI Chatbot…and that made him very uncomfortable.
Human communication has always changed with new technology
I said I had not noticed this, but historically with each new technology e.g. mobiles, social media – our communication behaviour has been affected. Where in the past if someone had not seen you, they would ensure they meet you soon, now a phone call might suffice. In difficult situations where I’d expect friends to visit/call, some friends just send a Whatsapp message.
When you meet in person the experience is subtly but profoundly different and the communication is on a completely different level. You feel so much better than after a call or reading a message.
Scientifically there will be an explanation, in terms of the benefits of face to face meetings, the good hormones released in our bodies etc; but even without research, the key argument is that for thousands of years, face to face is the only way we communicated.
Real-time communication over vast distances is a new phenomenon.
Use of communication technology can be a helpful bridge, especially when its difficult to meet in person, but the primacy of in-person communication is unmatched, and yet we have let technology often replace it. This may lead to weaker communication skills and poorer social networks over time.
AI is not another medium. It is replacing the person you talk to.
Other technologies were just a medium to communicate through. But AI effectively replaces the human at the other end and you are now having a complete conversation with software. This is a more profound change than in the past.
With AI, you don’t need to be considerate with your words. You don’t need to ask how it is feeling and you don’t need to deal with the difficulties, complexities and misunderstanding that can also occur in human interactions.
But its through the ups and downs of real communication, we learn to build understanding, closeness, and learn the art of communication itself. What if you get used to talking to an AI that is overly compliant to your mannerisms. Perhaps real human communication will just become more difficult and intolerable for you.
Some people discuss personal things with AI, like it is their friend or advisor. In the short term it may help, but in the longer term it may weaken their human connections further and actually make it harder to have real conversations and develop real relationships.
So I’m sure that if a person spends a lot of time chatting to an AI chat bot, and little time with real human beings, it will affect their communication skills.
Ring-fence your human Interaction time
There is already much talk of the growing mental illness in our modern societies and the link to greater use of technology. So the potential impact of AI means we are at a stage now where we may need to actually ring fence and protect time for face to face human interaction in our lives.
Interestingly the designer who started this whole conversation already tries to have 2 or 3 coffees with friends per week and at least one dinner with a friend.
It seems we may soon be given face to face communication guidelines to ensure we have healthy relationships in our lives. In the same way that doctors tell us to get 10,000 steps a day, eat five prices of fruit/vegetables a day, or sleep 7-8 hours; soon we will be told we need X hours of in-person communication per week…to maintain our mental and psychological well being and to maintain our ability to communicate properly.
As human beings we can’t ignore the importance of social in person human interactions and their value.
So what was your level of human to human interaction per week?
So whats the take away. If you haven’t seen someone for a while who is important to you, then prioritise seeing them and make it a regular occurrence going forwards.