Human Interaction ?

We all crave contact with others for support, well being and entertainment. But as governments / mainstream media blast everyone with crystal ball prophecies of doom lest you stay socially distanced from everyone - lifestyles become ever more transient and reliant on digital tools, putting out once simple interactions are under threat. Nothing compares to living in real communities and spending actual physical time with the people we love - Period!

Why is human interaction so important?

For one thing, it is important for our mental health. Social contact helps us to cope with stress and major life changes like a divorce, redundancy and moving house. And knowing that we are valued by others is an important psychological factor in helping us to forget the negative aspects of our lives, and thinking more positively about our environment.

There is compelling evidence to suggest human contact is also vital for our physical health too. In a 2010 report  in The Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Debra Umberson and Jennifer Karas Montez, sociology researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, cited evidence linking a low quantity or quality of social ties with a host of conditions, including the development and worsening of cardiovascular disease, repeat heart attacks, autoimmune disorders, high blood pressure, cancer and slowed wound healing.

Sometimes a hearing problem might lead to difficulty participating fully in conversations at work, home and in social situations. This might lead to withdrawing from situations which prove too challenging. But in these circumstances, to avoid episodes of isolation and depression, human interaction is even more important.

Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god -Aristotle

Why are we okay with not physically interacting anymore?

Long answer short, thanks to the mainstay media's fear port - OMG we absolutely do not want to contract or transmit covid19! The ability for us to stay data driven in relation to the real relatively (low) mortality rate of this virus + weigh its risk (the combination which we could call common sense) is something that many have given up on. And they now prefer to suckle the tit of information provided by the mainsteam media, organisations such as the WHO, irrational government officials, etc; rather than use said common sense.

In a pre-covid19 interviw with MED-EL, renowned Norwegian ENT specialist Professor Jablonski said that key to his relaxation is meeting new people and the interaction this brings: “I like to travel, see new people, and broaden my horizons. It’s about the interaction with the people you meet. I love it.”

Professor Jablonski echoes what many of us are thinking. But while most of us are still interacting, the majority of these interactions no longer take place in the flesh, rather online. It seems that many are happy to have have a few thousand followers on Instagram who regularly see and comment on the details of our private lives but we struggle to recall first meeting them.

We have a dozen Whatsapp chats we regularly contribute to, but the time we take to type out our messages far outweighs the time we spend with these people. We think we are developing in-depth friendships and relationships, when actually the opposite is true.

How we work nowadays has also changed, leading to fewer professional human interactions than ever before. We once worked five days a week in an office surrounded by colleagues. Due to the #newnormal (a.k.a #newabnormal) it is now increasingly common to work from home, alone and isolated from colleagues. While many say our productivity has no doubt increased, our professional isolation is undoubtedly growing.

Interestingly, the USP of a particular cafe I recently visited was to promote human interactions - creating a social vibe! The cafe intentionally does not offer Wi-Fi to its customers, with an aim is to get customers to talk with one another instead of being buried in their portable devices.  Talk about doing something different or thinking outside the box!