Human society seems to be sliding ever closer to a very strange place where technological devices and screens are more interesting to us than human interaction.
As someone who works on the web some of the time, and uses it to socialise a great deal, I am starting to feel the psychological effects of interacting with screens, and people through screens quite acutely.
It is quite sickening. And does not feel wholesome or healthy.
One of the effects is that nothing I feel like saying is as exciting or interesting as the rush of dopamine, from finding the answer to a question online.
Working at home more makes it worse. There is more time to get embroiled in another research project. When the time comes to work, it feels like such an anti-climax.
Dissolving our human bonds, sadly
This is increasingly driving us apart from each other. People are finding screens more interesting than real people.
I shudder to think where that is going to take us as a society.
And, for me, it feels like the antidote is to have somewhere out in the world to go each day and interact with people.
What are our addictions?
Food and screen time. These are the things that give us these dopamine rushes.
Gone are the 90s. When we got our kicks from the rush of activities we feel through our senses.
The theatre I saw last night gave me hope because I have some sense at how validating robot interactions could be. However, we are still a ways away from having robots sophisticated enough to care for us, and in the meantime, what will happen to us?
A changed human experience
I am alarmed because there is something very toxic about the energy in my world, the more I become entwined with technology.
None of this was written by AI. A relic. An imperfect collection of thoughts, that will become strange soon.
So many relationships are breaking up because of the wedge technology drives between people, and kids are addicted to the dopamine rush of screens and TV.
The strangest idea is how to map a life path through this environment.