‘Can I speak to a human?’

Most of us thought life would be easier and more efficient when we entered the digital age.

How great was the prospect of letting computers do the mundane tasks of life so we could be free to focus on activities and people that matter to us most.

We were used to spending hours and even days in a library to find information that is immediately available to us with one click.

All of that has morphed however, into a hyper-computerized universe where everything from our cars to our appliances are “smart,” and we need specialists just to figure out how to use them.

For that, we call a computerized phone system that directs us through a labyrinth of prompts. The robot voice assures us that we can talk to it “like a person,” but we continue pushing buttons hoping to find the modern-day equivalent of the holy grail: a human.

Whether we obey the robot or attempt to somehow bypass the prompts, we are invariably connected to someone in a department that cannot help us. If we finally reach the right department after numerous transfers, our call is disconnected and we have to start over. So much for the idyllic idea that computers will save us time and make our lives easier.

What’s more, that elusive “human” to whom we long to speak has been trained to sound more and more like a robot such that it’s hard to tell the difference.

“Thanks for calling Widget World. In order to better serve you, please provide me with your first and last name, your birth date, your mother’s maiden name and your blood type.”

If you refuse to be interrogated and insist on asking a simple question anyway, you are reprimanded possibly disconnected. The human responds, “I’d like to help you, but the computer won’t let me answer your question until I’ve properly identified you.”

Many are beginning to understand how dehumanizing this digitalized world has become. Computers must collectivize, categorize, and reduce everyone to an algorithm to do what they do. They are incapable of treating “a human” like an individual.  No wonder globalists, communists and socialists love them so much!  They don’t intend to treat you like an individual either.

The over-use and over-dependence on computers is less efficient and more time-consuming than most of us expected. Rather than using computers selectively to assist us, we increasingly obey the computer and do stupid things to satisfy it.  “I’d better go out and come in again so the computer will count me.” The computer won’t let me” give you a cup for free so I’ll throw this one away and you’ll have to get another one.”

Are we living in a bad sci-fi movie and are computers becoming our new masters?  If so, who is programming whom? In light of the growing number of wannabe dictators that appear to be vying to take over the world, that continues to be an open question.

It’s time to institute “Computerless Tuesdays” along with ‘Cash Fridays.”