Apprehensive about Automation?

What is the opposite of automated?

• manual

• by hand

• thought-out

• human

• intentional

• physical

• stilted?

Well, last week I was out of touch with technology canoeing in the Caribou on the Bowron lake chain circuit. I attempted to muster up my technological skills to automate a newsletter to arrive in my list’s inboxes on on September 1 but I failed. Automation is apparently not my forte.

“Automated means to make a process independent of human intervention.”

Now that I am home I can clearly see that said newsletter did not arrive as I had planned! Hopefully you were not too worried, no-one lost access to movementRX and the only thing missed was a new password and a short ramble from myself.

But this little lesson has made me pause to consider, many of us spend our lives working towards creating an automated state, so we can be elsewhere doing human things….We lose sleep and stress extensively over hitting deadlines that automate processes months or years down the line. Our work and thoughts are in the future, more so than in the here and now, and what else do we lose? Entrepreneurs automate their social media, newsletters and emails. Grocery stores automate their check out process. Canada Post is transitioning to super boxes that automate delivery. We can even buy massage guns that automate the massage therapy process!!!

But where is the line drawn? How much automation is too much automation. Eventually we could shop, learn, drive, eat, grow, and even be massaged without other humans entirely. As I write this, I was literally interrupted by a fraud phone call that was AUTOMATED! The irony is, as a society that continually seeks to streamline, we conversely value the slow, time-honed skills that are being lost to automation. We will pay good money for locally-grown, hand-made, home-cooked food. We gawk at handmade artwork, locally-crafted soaps, and hand-sewn quilts. We purchase small-craft brewery beer (even if it’s yucky) over big brands. We appreciate the value and charm of human work.

Of course there is no correct answer, the path you take will be your very own. But I urge you to pause every once in a while and consider if this task you are choosing to “automate” would be more enjoyable, purposeful, and HUMAN if you just did it yourself?

Would you rather efficiently leave the grocery store via self serve checkouts or to interact with a human being at the cash register? Would you rather greet your mail carrier at your door step or unlock a cold metal box by your lonesome? Would you rather be massaged by a living, breathing, human being or by a pleather chair?

I know my answer.

While I am sorry for my failed attempt at automating the delivery of a newsletter, I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect and learn together.

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