Anyone who has grocery shopped at a large supermarket recently will notice that you’re now confronted with a decision at check-out time. You can line up as usual to have a clerk check and bag your items, or you can opt to go to the do-it-yourself kiosk, where you have the privilege of scanning and packing your items yourself. I’ve been tempted to canvass folks who choose the clerkless option. I suspect some feel it’s faster (by my observation, that’s dubious at best). Some may be obsessive-compulsive enough to want to handle and pack their own things in some preferred manner. I suspect some may simply wish to avoid the need to interact with another person, however briefly.
Whatever the reason, it seems likely that the option we’re currently being provided is not going to continue, but rather is a transition process preparing us for a time when grocery chains will no longer hire actual human beings for the purpose. When that happens, your friendly check-out person will join the growing list of community roles that are no more, or exist in a much more limited capacity:
In fact, it’s now entirely possible to leave your home in the morning and carry out all your domestic and business chores without ever having to be troubled with the need to interact with an actual human being. Moreover, we don’t require another person’s help to accomplish many of the functions of day-to-day life. In essence, we’re paradoxically becoming more isolated in the midst of increasingly crowded and busy urban environments.
Recently, we’ve witnessed a further blurring of the boundary between our personal space and the wider world. The introduction of Pokemon-Go basically makes the wider world a personal playground. In the words of the manufacturers, “Travel between the real world and the virtual world of Pokémon with Pokémon GO for iPhone and Android devices. With Pokémon GO, you’ll discover Pokémon in a whole new world—your own!”
So, what are we to think of all this increasing detachment from the people with whom we coexist, sharing our communities and services? Is it a problem, or simply evolution towards a greater, technologically driven efficiency? Is there a price to be paid for our virtual isolation from the growing number of people around us?
At the risk of sounding like a sentimental reactionary, I’ll admit that a few concerns come to mind.
Firstly, on a purely pragmatic level, these jobs provided income and, for those who engaged them as full time occupations, a sense of identity and purpose within our communities. They, in turn, were able to support their families and local economies. Jobs, all jobs, are likely our best social investment. A loss of jobs, even unglamorous jobs, should concern us.
They also provided part-time employment opportunities for young people, valuable experiences in self-sufficiency and human relations that informed and supported future careers. Interacting with various folks in the course of our routine day promotes “people skills”. One learns how to “read” people, sense concerns, respond appropriately.
Moreover, the need to interact and communicate on a regular basis with other folks of diverse ages and backgrounds, I believe, promotes tolerance, civility and fundamental sensitivity to the challenges faced by others in our midst. How much do children learn by simply observing how their parents interact with all the folks they encounter in daily life? How much is lost if that never occurs?
I believe we’re seeing some consequences in our medical schools.
One of the most stressful moments for medical students is their first encounter with a patient. At our school, this takes place in first term Clinical Skills. Very early on, students are taught and expected to introduce themselves to a patient, obtain some basic information, and begin the encounter that will eventually allow them to obtain a complete and accurate clinical history. It all starts with simply introducing oneself and beginning a basic conversation, which, one might think, would come quite naturally to bright and gifted young people. Amazingly, many students find this quite difficult and even unnatural. In fact, students vary considerably in their comfort and aptitude for the patient encounter, and this has very little to do with their academic qualifications. It does, however, have much to do with their prior experience engaging people on a personal level, particularly those of diverse ages or backgrounds. That ability is (or should be) learned through real life everyday experiences, at home, in their communities, in their workplace. In our competency-based world of medical education, it’s easy to forget that the most essential physician competency is the affinity for effective and comfortable exchanges with people of all types. That particular skill is first developed, not in medical school, but in our homes and communities.
It would be silly to expect that technology will not continue to advance and that the now redundant occupations described above will make some sort of magical resurgence. However, we should recognize that something has been lost and not replaced. These roles were not just jobs or functions. They were actual people, with faces, personalities, roles in our communities for which they became known and identified. They contributed something far beyond the tasks they performed. They contributed to our learning, our sense of community, and our comfort with personal interactions. In their absence, we must find ways to identify and develop those skills in our students who are products of a rapidly changing social structure.
Anthony J. Sanfilippo, MD, FRCP(C)
Associate Dean,
Undergraduate Medical Education
Love the blog. I agree with your premise and conclusions.
Richard Reznick, dean
Great blog, Tony – The world with more and more automation and ever reduced human contact seems very sterile. Interesting that insurance companies see the importance of human contact and some now specifically build their advertising on the fact that a human will answer the phone – who could have imagined that a generation ago. Your blog speaks volumes about the importance of conversation in the home – dinner time with family and conversation – not ear phones and iPhones.
Couldn’t agree more Mike. A very wise man once told me that role modeling starts at home.
Great critical analysis of something that is creeping into our culture, Tony! I wanted to add that in addition to our rigourous Clinical Skills program, our First Patient Program, which also begins in Term 1 of medical school ,helps our students learn about the home life, and the context of a patient, not just the interaction within the clinic, or physician’s office. We have a lot of elder care in this program, and medical students often write that their biggest surprise was, “I never knew how cool old people could be.” 🙂 They gain an empathy for the patient who can’t lever herself out of the chairs in the physician’s office because of her arthritis, or the patient who has to forgo an appointment because they can’t find parking close enough to the hospital, or for the patient for whom grocery shopping and other activities our students find easy, are so challenging. They become advocates as well as communicators and our research shows, carry these influences well past their 2nd year.
Thanks for that reminder Sheila. The First Patient Program certainly provides a means to help students engage those first, challenging patient interactions.
Thank you, Tony, for another insightful blog!
As Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence are increasingly introduced to the different domains of our lives (I agree with you, this process can’t be stopped), it is the very advantage of humans over machines that must be preserved. In the area of medicine there is ample evidence suggesting that people (patients, clients) much appreciate the attention, caring and compassion of their human care providers (even if they disagree with us and often ignore our advice). At least at this stage machines are incapable of offering such “non-technical” skills well (though this is changing as well).
Applying the conversation to health quality tenets, our challenge will be to maximize the promise for improved safety, timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness brought by machines while improving human providers’ skill and expertise in addressing patient centeredness and equitability.
That’s well said Roy. Basically, technology no doubt improves our ability to provide safe and efficient care, but the it all begins with that human relationship.
Hello Tony,
Loved this blob post. Thank you for posting.
I couldn’t agree more; we are paradoxically isolating ourselves with technology while converging more and more into larger urban centres. Communicating face-to-face with people feels as though it’s becoming a chore, rather than a pleasure. As someone who strongly prefers the telephone to e-mail, this trend concerns me.
If you have a moment, check out this article in The Guardian from a few months back:
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/17/automation-may-mean-a-post-work-society-but-we-shouldnt-be-afraid
There was also a very clever video that went along with it:
A few interesting points from the article:
– Machines could take 50% of our jobs in the next 30 years.
– Machines are already undertaking tasks which were unthinkable – if not unimaginable – a decade ago.
Sincerely,
Matt Simpson