Technology Decisions

Humanity vs. Technology

IT departments cant afford to lose their human touch.

BY ARA C. TREMBLY

Some people would have us believe our society is losing its sense of humanitythat the furious pace of modern-day life is robbing us of the compassion, politeness, and mutual respect many feel characterized society in bygone years. And the culprit is demon technology.

Todays technology experience certainly is emblematic of such sentimentswith nameless, faceless computers taking the place of humans, especially in business settings. Computers have no feelings, no empathy, no vitalityno humanity. Theres no emotional appeal to such soulless entities. Yet we are forced to deal with them in every area of life.

In the world of Star Trek, future generations have taken the computer to its logical apex, fashioning it to look and function as much as possible like a human. One such android, Lt. Commander Data, is an entity who looks human (despite some really bad makeup), sounds human, performs human functions, and is, uh, anatomically correct. The one thing the android builders werent able to solve, however, was making this creation act human in terms of emotions.

And whether on big screen or small, poor Mr. Data longed to be humanto love and be loved, to laugh and to cry, to experience the full range of experience that characterizes humanity. There were attempts to remedy his condition with a so-called emotion chip, yet even that didnt seem to get things just right. Ironic, isnt it, that the animated pinnacle of technology wanted only to be perfectly humanthat is, imperfect?

But getting back to us 21st century humans, a recent article in Psychology Today reports on a study that concluded communicating via e-mail alone can doom a business relationship. It compared two groups of students who negotiated a car sale, one communicating via e-mail and the other doing the same thing but having the opportunity to talk by phone first. Predictably, those who talked first were more likely to reach agreement than the other group. In addition, those who never spoke often felt resentful and angry about the negotiation.
The idea was those who had spoken had an opportunity to get to know each other better and interact on a more personal level, thus they felt more comfortable doing business with each other. That sounds reasonableuntil you ask yourself how business got done before there was e-mail and even before there were telephones.

Wonder of wonders, people actually wrote business letters to each other. They didnt seem alienated by the fact they might never have seen or talked to the other party. Somehow, all that personal-level stuff had to be communicated in writing on paper, and somehow people managed to do just that. So, we have to ask ourselves why that doesnt work today with e-mail, which, after all, is just mail sent faster.

The answer, quite simply, is a lack of good upbringing, training, or both. When I was in high school, one of the things we were required to learn was how to write a business letternot just the proper form but the proper tone of the greeting, message, and sign-off. That tone was businesslike, to be sure, but it also was professional. When you received a properly written business letter, you felt valued and respected as a person and as a potential business partner.

The truth is today we often are too lazy to do the little things in our e-communication that set the emotional stage for our business relationships. Ive received dozens of e-letters from public relations professionalspeople who should know betterthat simply launch into a hard-core sales pitch without so much as a greeting.

Is it so difficult to begin a letter with Dear Mr. Trembly? If thats too old-fashioned, how about something more contemporary such as Yo, dog? And call me a traditionalist, but the brief yet many-faceted Dude! does the job just fine for me.

Whatever your preference, however, its nice to be greeted and to get an introductory sentence or two. At least I know theres a human being on the other end of that communication who is trying to be polite and respectful.

If we are indeed losing our humanity, it isnt because technology has helped communications get faster. Rather, we have chosen to use technology as a convenient excuse for our own sloth and lack of empathy. We need to return to teaching concepts such as basic politeness and respect for others in our schools.
But, you say, what if a childs parents dont believe in politeness and respect? God forbid we should trample on that poor kids constitutional right to be raised as an obnoxious boor. It reminds me of those parents who refuse to rein in a screaming toddler in public because they think it will stifle the childs creativity or shake his or her fragile self-esteem. Meanwhile, the rest of society sustains hearing damage.

To this and other such postmodern poppycock, I say, Rubbish! If we want to perpetuate humanity, we must teach it, and we must live it.

Ara C. Trembly is technology editor for National Underwriters property/casualty and life/health editions. He may be reached at atrembly@nuco.com.