I had the necessities: milk, toilet paper, vitamin water and Ben & Jerry's. Seeing as how I didn't really have many items, I decided to check myself out that way it would go more quickly. Scan a few items, put them in the bag, then swipe my credit card -- easy stuff.
Leaving Safeway, groceries in tow, I remembered that I still needed to cancel my DVD club membership (you know those CD clubs where you get 12 for a penny, and an extra one for half price). I had one of those, only for DVDs, and those clubs suck. Anyhow, after spending a good 15 minutes talking to a machine, the membership was cancelled.
When I got home, I flipped on the TV and heard some news anchor talk about immigration deliberation on Capitol Hill. Whenever I hear immigration nowadays, illegal or not, I am reminded of the most common argument for those who want to close our borders: "they steal Americans' jobs." Whether or not this statement is true, my entire evening was just spent dealing not with people, but technology.
Technological advances are taking people's jobs: it's just subtler. And these aren't the jobs that most people refuse to do like cleaning up after strangers. These are jobs that some of us working students or single parents might have. There used to be about 10 to 15 cashiers at a grocery store, but that number has dwindled to make room for the self-checkout machines. How long until there are only a few cashiers simply to regulate the people while they buy groceries?
Customer service agents aren't even needed at some companies. I didn't speak to a single human as I cancelled my DVD club membership and while online courses don't exactly fall into this category, they relate to my next point.
The value of human interaction is being lost with these advances. I would prefer to have a pleasant conversation with the cashier rather than get frustrated at the machine that kept telling me in a calm, automated voice to place the item in the bag. I put the item in the bag, OK? Please let me scan my next item. Then it just gets annoying and I have to call someone over to help me.
The phone machines are even worse. "My name is Kyle Snow," I've told the machine five times now, but apparently it didn't hear me. Funny, an actual person might understand me.
While online courses can be extremely convenient depending on your schedule or location, the interaction with the professor and peers is definitely different. Discourse is confined to a keyboard and screen, instead of verbal expression.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for advancing technology, I just can't stand trying to communicate with a machine that doesn't understand the words that I am making with my well-functioning vocal chords.
If you are not a machine, you can send your feedback to: kyle.snow@asu.du.
