How convenient services and applications make us miserable

Our life becomes easier. You can not even go to the store for edible - there are services delivery products. And if you do not have time, you can call in avtozakusochnuyu, and you do not even have to get out of the car to get my order. And of course, thanks to FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE can forget about cooking.

There are convenient services and applications, with the help of which you can order cleaning of the house, call the master to repair the furniture, for example, or plumbing.

Unfortunately, over the convenience comes at a price. And the more effective it becomes our life, the less we communicate.

More comfort - less communication

A few years ago, to buy food, you would have to go down to the store. On the way, you could meet friends or neighbors and interact with them, then exchange a few sentences with acquaintances seller wink baby, picking candies next to the cash register, and only then to go home.

You are five minutes choosing what to buy, and only communicate with the operator. If you use an application to order food, and I think sooner or later we will all move on to this shopping format, you do no one to communicate.

Of course, a couple of sentences, which you spread with the seller, can not be called a full-fledged communication. Call it microinteraction.

Over time, such interactions is becoming smaller. There is a growing level of comfort, and with it grows and voluntary isolation.

And this applies not only to applications for food order, or call the masters at home.

Remote work leads to isolation

Due to modern means of communication - messengers, platforms for the organization of the staff, videoconferencing and chat - work becomes more and more comfortable home.

For 10 years the number of employees, working remotelyIt increased by more than 100%. Two-thirds of people work remotely from case to case.

Moreover, an increasing number of companies that only work remotely and do not have their office. In general, the traditional workplace is becoming less popular.

And it's scary. After just five minutes in the office you will have time to talk, or at least say hello to the guard, the people in the elevator, and at the coffee machine, secretary and his colleagues, who are sitting in front of you.

You can schedule a video call to a Skype chief, to discuss the report, but you can not say hello to friends in the elevator. You can talk about anything with colleagues in the messenger or even create a group chat to it collectively. But this dialogue, as opposed to the real, would be devoid of spontaneity.

You choose when you want to communicate, you do not start a conversation with a man, if there is a specific topic that is worth discussing. If you just meet with the person next to the coffee machine or go up in the elevator together, you wind spontaneous conversation just like that. And it is impossible to replicate online.

Communication with people and happiness

A study in 2014 "Social interaction and well-being. Unexpected effect of weak ties"Showed that the weak links (communication with people you do not know very well) have a positive effect on the level of happiness.

In other words, the more microinteractions happens during the day, the better you feel. This is true not only of extroverts, but introverts. Past due to such minor short conversations increase the amount of communication in the day, and also feel better.

Moreover, study Elizabeth Dunn (Elizabeth W. Dunn) and Gillian Sendstrom (Gillian M. Sandstrom) showed that, when it comes to happiness, socialization comes first. When subjects were communicated to the cashier in a free manner (eye contact, greetings and light conversation), they were more satisfied with the service and the overall feel better than the parties that made the communication so formal and dry, as perhaps.

Researchers from the University of Chicago foundThat people feel much better after intercourse than after staying alone. The experiment involved commuters who go to work in the city. Some participants were asked on the way to start a conversation with the person sitting next to another was told to enjoy the solitude.

As a result, the participants start a conversation with a neighbor, felt happierThan those that have spent time alone. While the type of person - an extrovert or an introvert - had no meaning. Loneliness was not preferred for either of those, or others.

Thus, despite the fact that the work, shopping and chores in the future promises to be easier, faster and more efficiently, with the disappearance of microinteractions we become more and more lonely and sad.

How to keep microinteraction

As handy apps and services will not disappear, it is important to find a balance between convenience and preservation microinteractions.

For example, you can work remotely and use it for search applications coworking. At this point microinteraction persist and even increase, because the new people there will often appear.

applications "Around», Got You or Tinder help you find friends and strangers to participate in group activities. There you can find events in which you can participate, simultaneously communicating with other people.

If you have a dog, the application Woof It helps to find the people who are walking their pets near you. And you will be able to walk together.

And of course, everything is good in moderation. For example, if during the week you do not have time or desire to cook, you can order food at home. But at the weekend you can and do not hurry to go down to the shop to say hello to the cashier, maybe meet some acquaintance on the way.

Or instead to hold a video conference with the head of another, come to the office and talk in person. In any case, until you reach the office of the head, you will have several microinteractions with colleagues or neighbors in the office.

After all, in the end, what good is the comfort, if it does not make you happy?