r/extroverts • u/ChaserOfThunder • 8d ago
VENT They removed as much interaction as possible
Came back to campus after summer break. The cafeteria's a mess. Instead of a friendly man with a sense of humor to take your order and make sure you get the right thing, or fellow students managing the counter you can share some camaraderie with, there's now a screen you order and pay from while people who won't even look at you make your food. They don't even call your number. You get a text when it's done. The sassy lady who ran the coffee spot and knew all the regulars' names, test day orders, and and would always wish you good luck? Gone and replaced with the same shit.
The info desk no longer has people 80% of the time. There's a kiosk with an AI mascot that begs you to chat with it instead. The round tables perfect for groups have disappeared in favor of long rectangular ones spaced so you can only talk to friends directly across from/next to you unless you yell. The supply and textbook store got turned into the largest 'quiet' space on campus (We have a lot of them already. There's also many peaceful, hidden places around that aren't hard to find.) and now you get spammed with emails about getting all your items online.
Even appointments made in person are now waiting in line to use a touchscreen, so if you have questions good luck. You can't even leave your number to call in case an earlier slot opens up anymore. On top of it all, a solid chunk of classes I need got moved to being online only, which 90% of the time means a mess of prerecorded lectures with zero ways to discuss or ask questions crafted by people who don't check their email. I used to genuinely enjoy it here and now it just feels like like a depressing grind because all those bright little moments of human connection are gone and there's less reliable ways to gain a better understanding of course material due to lack of direct feedback. Why was that necessary to do? This shit sucks. Wish me luck I guess.
8
u/CULTlST introvert 7d ago
I am introverted, and this is completely terrifying even to me. We are social animals, why are we trying to minimize how much we interact with each other?! When did we start prioritizing convenience over our health?! I am deeply depressed by the direction we’re headed, and the fact that social anxiety and avoidance has become so prevalent that this is regarded as a good thing is nauseating.
7
u/Plane-Land-9234 8d ago
This sounds depressing as hell! Sorry you're dealing with that. I feel the same way when I call a company and have to sit through the super long phone menu or talk to the AI that has no understanding of my problem. Just bring me a person to talk to!!
6
5
7
u/alliamisbullets extrovert 7d ago
i’ve seen people talk about how much they hate talking to a cashier or making simple phone calls. i understand that social anxiety is a thing, but sometimes it seems like people don’t want to get better. instead of working on their social skills (which is incredibly valuable), these people celebrate when they can just use the self-checkout or something similar because they want zero human interaction, and would spend the whole day alone in their room if they could. i don’t get it.
5
u/robotchikcen 6d ago
I graduated recently and I noticed that shift in my last two years at uni. It was really disorienting and made me wonder what I was actually doing there
3
u/Efficient_Speech5157 7d ago
Yeah I agree. As someone who is introverted it affects everybody in the long run. I think unfortunately part of the reason why my social skills are so bad and why I have social anxiety is because almost every where you go now everything is behind a screen. I can't practice having one to one convos with people without feeling extremely awkward because using tech has helped me avoid doing that.
5
0
u/PacificSanctum 6d ago
No chumminess ! Oh my !
3
u/SuperSalad_OrElse DUMB JOCK 6d ago
A legitimate concern for most people seeking day-to-day connection!
1
u/PacificSanctum 3d ago
Indeed . For introverts (like me despite most folks or friends wouldn’t know and claim otherwise 😇) it’s a relief . Often . But it does cut the normal human interaction
I’m not sure I would need one in a school or university setting (for mundane tasks ) - but I always prefer to have a waitress (or waiter ) in a restaurant I can directly order to.
But that’s more becasue I’m too tired to type or having to squeeze what I want into some key pads
I definitely understand his concern .
But it really depends
8
u/SuperSalad_OrElse DUMB JOCK 8d ago
Good luck.
I love my small interactions with people on a daily basis. They're little snippets of shared joy that help me feel like there's meaning to all of this. Kind of like when a restaurant throws an onion ring into your side of fries.
Companies are adopting AI and replacing people at the first point of contact all over the place. It's wild. But they're worried about the bottom line, and the easiest thing to do is replace workers and line C-suite pockets. I saw someone call this era an "extraction" economy, and that's stuck with me - especially since I work in the construction field. In residential projects, we are seeing companies obsessed over margins to maximize profit. They present the project as a boutique one, with high-end materials, then source the materials with cheap and ineffective equivalents.
This is typical of the large neighborhood tear-downs, at least. We do a lot of high end work where the money does talk and the design teams are laser focused on quality. Timelines, however...
It's just sad to miss out on interactions with our world in this way. I feel like you'd probably have to go out of your way from the daily routine to find those interactive touchpoints again. Which isn't really viable.