How convenient services and apps make us unhappy

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Modern technologies make life more convenient: no need to go shopping or commute to work in the office. But along with these things, a very important part of life disappears, which makes us happy.

Our life becomes easier. You don't even have to go to the grocery store - there are grocery delivery services. And if you don't have time at all, you can stop by the diner and you don't even have to get out of your car to get your order. And of course, thanks to ready-made food delivery services, you can completely forget about self-cooking.

There are convenient services and applications with which you can order house cleaning, call a wizard to fix furniture, for example, or plumbing fixtures.

Unfortunately, these amenities come at a price. And the more efficient our life becomes, the less we communicate.

More comfort - less communication

A few years ago, to buy groceries, you would have had to go down to the store. On the way, you could meet acquaintances or neighbors and chat with them, then exchange a couple of phrases with a familiar seller, wink at a baby choosing sweets near the cash register, and only then go home.

Now, in five minutes, you choose what to buy, and only communicate with the operator. If you use the application to order food, and I think sooner or later we will all switch to this shopping format, you do not communicate with anyone at all.

Of course, a couple of phrases that you will exchange with the seller cannot be called full-fledged communication. Let's call this microinteraction.

Over time, such interactions become less and less. The degree of comfort grows, and with it voluntary isolation grows.

And this applies not only to applications for ordering food or calling masters at home.

Remote work leads to isolation

Thanks to modern means of communication - messengers, platforms for organizing the work of employees, video conferencing and chats - it becomes more and more convenient to work from home.

For 10 years, the number of employees working remotely has grown by more than 100%. Two-thirds of people work remotely from time to time.

Moreover, the number of companies that work only remotely and do not have their own office is increasing. In general, the traditional workplace is becoming less and less popular.

And it's scary. After all, in just five minutes in the office, you will have time to chat or at least say hello to the security guard, people in the elevator and at the coffee machine, the secretary and colleagues who are sitting opposite you.

You can schedule a Skype video call with your boss to discuss the report, but you won't be able to greet your acquaintances in the elevator. You can chat about anything with your colleagues in the messenger, or even create a group to chat there collectively. But this communication, unlike real communication, will be devoid of spontaneity.

You choose when you want to chat, you will not start a conversation with the person if there is no specific topic to discuss. If you just meet with a person near a coffee machine or go up in an elevator together, you start a spontaneous conversation just like that. And it cannot be repeated online.

Communication with people and happiness

A 2014 study "" showed that weak bonds (hanging out with people you don't know very well) have a positive effect on happiness.

In other words, the more microinteractions happen in a day, the better you feel. And this applies not only to extroverts, but also to introverts. The latter, due to such insignificant short conversations, increase the amount of communication per day and also feel better.

Moreover, Elizabeth W. Dunn and Gillian M. Sandstrom showed that socialization comes first when it comes to happiness. When participants in the experiment interacted with the cashier in a casual manner (eye contact, greeting, and light conversation), they were more satisfied with the service and generally felt better than participants who made the communication as formal and dry as possible.

Researchers from the University of Chicago that people feel much better after socializing than after being alone. The experiment involved commuters traveling to work in the city. Some of the participants were asked to start a conversation with someone sitting next to them on the road, others were told to enjoy their solitude.

As a result, participants who had a conversation with a neighbor felt happier than those who spent time alone. Moreover, the type of personality - extrovert or introvert - did not matter. Loneliness was not preferred by either one or the other.

So while working, shopping, and household chores promise to be easier, faster, and more efficient in the future, as microinteractions disappear, we ourselves become more lonely and sadder.

How to store microinteractions

Since user-friendly apps and services will not disappear anywhere, it is important to find a balance between convenience and preserving microinteractions.

For example, you can work remotely and use apps to find coworking spaces. In this place, microinteractions will persist and even increase, because new people will often appear there.

Applications "", or will help you find friends and strangers to spend time together. There you can also find events in which you can participate while communicating with other people along the way.

If you have a dog, the app will help you find people who are walking their pets near you. And you can walk together.

And of course, everything is fine in moderation. For example, if on weekdays you do not have the time and desire to cook, you can order food at home. But on weekends, you can take your time to go down to the store, say hello to the cashier, maybe meet some acquaintance along the way.

Or, instead of having another video conference with your boss, come to the office and talk in person. In any case, by the time you get to the boss's office, you will have several micro-interactions with colleagues or office neighbors.

After all, what is the use of comfort if it doesn't make you happy?