4 Ways to Flourish in a World of Accelerating Technology

This week the New York Times forewarned of doom in a chilling headline: AI Poses ‘Risk of Extinction,’ Industry Leaders Say.

News media around the world echoed this alarm after 350 artificial intelligence industry leaders concurred that the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence should be considered a societal risk on par with pandemics and nuclear wars.

In a joint statement, they urged a unified global response to head off an inevitable infection of misinformation and propaganda and prevent the disruption of privacy, market viability, employment, and our community infrastructure.

This certainly is cause for pause.

It’s complicated. Amid valid discussion of the need to regulate and tame the Wild West of AI, hopeful voices are promising that AI, when in ethical hands, has the potential to thwart climate change and boost our physical health by reducing medical errors, improving surgical outcomes, and solving diseases that have baffled us for centuries. It may well offer future generations greater physical health and even longevity.

Amid this cacophony of hope and concern, I paused and wondered what AI could do, if anything, to boost our mental health and aid personal resiliency. Can AI heal a broken heart, comfort a grieving spouse, and offer understanding during times of professional disappointment? I decided to go to the source–ChatGPT, where I posed the question, “How can AI contribute to improving an individual’s resilience?”

In a nanosecond, ChatGPT responded. It boasted at a length of its prowess in employing high-powered algorithms, detecting patterns of anomalies, streamlining processes, optimizing resource allocation, and implementing risk mitigation strategies.

But what caught my eye was this footnote: “Human judgment, ethical considerations, and context-specific knowledge remain essential for effective resilience-building.”

The chatbot acknowledged that it could not supplant meaningful relationships, proffer empathy, hold your hand at the end of a bad day, help you make an ethical decision, deliver a home-cooked meal to a grieving family, or offer understanding that emanates from a shared experience. Good to know it recognizes its limitations.

What AI can never offer us is something fundamentally necessary to human health and mental resilience. AI lacks the capacity to offer genuine human connection.

We have long known that the need for satisfying relationships and meaningful social connections is at the heart of human resilience. This is partly evident from a longitudinal study that began in 1938.

The Harvard Grant Study has been following a group of men over their lifetimes, examining various factors contributing to health and well-being. One of the key findings has been that relationships and social connectivity translate into better health and increased longevity.

The researchers found that men who had strong and supportive relationships in their 50s, including both friendships and strong marriages, tended to be happier, healthier, and lived longer.

Similar research has confirmed that those with strong social support have evidence of lower rates of morbidity and mortality along with improved cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune function.

Beyond the clear health benefits, those with human connection are happier and better able to manage stress, perhaps because they have others with whom to share the inevitable tumult of life.

The need for community and close friendships has never been greater than now, as society begins to reset in the aftermath of a global pandemic. The office, which has typically served as a petri dish for relationships to form and proliferate, is unrecognizable from the one that existed in 2019. Many offices remain dark as workers contribute remotely, and the water cooler–a centrifugal force for conversation–stands alone.

So in an age of decreasing human interaction amid a force field of technology, and with limited opportunity for casual contact that can forge friendships, what does one do? Here are some suggestions for how to embark on friendship revitalization:

1. Take inventory. Who are you spending your time with, and are those relationships life-affirming? Do they bring you joy? Author Jim Rohn once wrote, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Who are your top five? A body of research conducted at Harvard and Yale Universities by Nicholas Christakis suggests that individuals tend to adopt the behaviors and habits of their friends, influencing everything from health behaviors—diet, exercise, and substance use—to how one vote. As you embark on your inventory, consider whether you are investing the moments of your life in individuals who inspire and make your life better.
2. Renew broken connections. Identify friendships that have ebbed because of the pandemic and take the initiative to reconnect. Make a call, drop a note, or invite someone out for dinner. Rekindle relationships with those who made a positive imprint on your life. If perhaps a lost friend resulted from an unresolved squabble, offer to talk through the conflict, or just let it go and drop off flowers or send a note saying, “I’ve missed you.”
3. Text less. Talk more. How many of your relationships have become primarily text-based? Sure, texting is easy, but take a break and pick up the phone. A pre-pandemic Nielsen study reported that U.S. adults spend nearly half a day–11 hours per day–listening to, watching, reading, or generally interacting with media. Add to that a more recent study that indicated Americans spend nearly five hours a day watching streaming platforms. Combined, that is a whole lot of screen time. Make a decision to put away the screens and talk more. Aren’t conversations more complete and complex when not reduced to error-prone text dictation or typing?
4. Spark new friendships. You are never too old to make a new friend. While old friends are treasures with whom you have a shared history and precious memories, new friends can reflect how your life has changed, and they can spark new interests and activities. Surrounding yourself with friends who share your current interests, goals, and aspirations can motivate and inspire personal growth. Take a class, join a gym, strike up conversations as you take a walk, attend a political rally, or extend an unexpected kindness to an acquaintance.

As generative AI advances fast, drawing us deeper into a world of computers, chatbots, and data-driven algorithms that narrow our exposure to news, facts, and the world in general, remember you have the power to achieve something vital that AI, with its infinite databases, cannot. You can make mindful connections that will do more than any technology to keep you happy and healthy.

Take a friend to lunch.