Being Human

We have lost the ways of being human in the Age of Technology. Yes, computer technology & the Internet have their benefits, even as they are major influences on why we often act like digital machines.

“The great question of these times is how to live in and with a technological society; what mind and what way of life can preserve man’s humanity against the domination of the forces he has created.”
—Charles Reich, The Greening of America (1970)

Leo Buscaglia on David Letterman: April 22, 1982.

I was one of the millions of people who regularly watched the talks on TV, in the 1980s, which Leo Buscaglia regularly gave. I also read his books. He was quite popular. Does anyone here remember Prof. Buscaglia’s talks on love and living? I thought I would share.

I remember watching this talk given at University of California, Davis, in particular, when I was working as an engineer. People who work in such fields, and in such industries where engineers work, tend to be less open to emotional energy. It was, in fact, viewed as suspicous and superfluos, something that gets in the way of facts. Emotions were best kept in check, if not surpressed. If this sounds extreme, well, that’s because it is. If it sounds unheathy, again, it is. But if you are conditioned by the dictates and rules of society, especially as it is applicable to males, then recognition comes slow. Very slow.

Truly, I did not initially recognize this as unhealthy. I had a vague and inchoate feeling at the beginning of my engineering career that this was not right, not healthy. Yet, this feeling was pushed deeper into my psyche, since it was inconvenient to my economic welfare. Needless to say, the message that Buscaglia brought forth was influential in my life, and I eventually made the changes that led me to a career in writing and a love of Nature. I invite you to watch it; Buscaglia’s passion for life is kind of contagious. His message, and understanding of the human need for love, is not at all dated. It never can be. Or will be.

Has the internet and social media made us more social, less lonely? We know the answer, because we see and live it daily. We are not close to each other and to Nature; and, moreover, we do not even realize that we are not close. Well, some of us do, see and feel the distancing effects of technology. The effects that make us more like machines and less like humans. This is never good, but it is becoming harder to see it as so. As a promise that cannot be kept.

Social media is alluring, because it makes promises to relieve societal loneliness by connecting people. But the kind of connections it makes and can make is limiting. These virtural connections cannot replace the ones that we humans need, the ones that helped us evolve to our intelligent and collaborative selves. Flesh-and-blood connections. Social media cannot duplicate, imitate or replace the human connections of two individuals sitting across from each other. Looking at each other’s eyes. Listening intently. Acknowleding presence. Having a back-and-forth conversation. Yet, we often do not realize such shortcomings until disappointment sets in.

Why? We are not taught how to be human. We are not taught how to love and how to connect with people. There are always lonely people. Then and Now. But Now it is much worse. And, yes, because the same technology that can connect us from across the globe is the same technology that can create distance between two persons sitting across a table. Yes, it is maddening. Social media is good at disseminating information; it is not good at human intimacy. Such is not its purpose.

We need to be taught that the technology is only a tool. The same as a any other tool, the chief difference is that a hammer or screwdriver does not distract or create distance between us. Humans are social animals, so this needs to be changed, corrected. We are taught many subjects in school, all directed toward a job, a vocation, a working life. But one of the most important necessities in life is rarely taught. Think about it and you will likely agree. It ought to be, and now more than ever.

I will end with the Human League and “Human” (1986).

Merci et à bientôt
Lifelong Animal Lover
Born at 315 ppm
Now at 425 ppm