In the ever-evolving digital sphere of today, artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed and reinvented multiple industries, boosting efficiency and productivity alongside innovations. However, within this technological whirlwind, there is one part of human life that AI cannot replicate — ‘connective labor.’ These are the hidden but vital tasks to establish and sustain human connections – the underpinning of much benefit and public health.
Connective Labor Explained
A major component of understanding connective labor is found in Allison J. Pugh’s book, The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World. It is the work of having sight and knowledge for another person…to see them, to mirror what you understand about them back at them, until they can feel seen and know that their experience has value. This labor is endemic to everyday life and yet usually both unobserved and economically unrewarded. This is part of why it is so difficult to measure and quantify, which then makes it a challenge for us to recognize in data-driven spaces.
The Crisis of Depersonalization
As data analytics and automation demand efficiency, repeatability, and publishing we are on a quick road towards depersonalization. A facade of machine logic and standardized processing is obscuring the personal touch that makes human engagements truly unique. In many cases, automation and depersonalization are rationalized as ways to scale operations, ensure wider access, or improve efficiency – saving humans for work more meaningful. But this data focus can crowd out the arts of connective work – using our bodies, behaviors, and spidey senses to establish rapport that enables collaboration.
The Human Touch That Cannot Be Replaced
When someone feels seen and heard in this way it has a monumental effect. Called “perceptual crossing” by neuroscientists, a quality true-avatars reflect fairly authentic images back to one another. This is elemental to all professions, whether it be teaching and nursing or law enforcement and judicial systems… in fact, any successful interaction or organization. While machines may provide personalization, they fall short of the surprise, delight, and serendipity we seek from these encounters.
Overstandardized Workplaces
As a result of automation, relationships are hindered and humans feel they themselves deserve to become automatons. Placing the focus on checklists, protocols, and data can lead to a race for better process quality – turning processes into end goals in themselves and removing attention from what is truly important. In the West, for example, the move to electronic medical records has been linked with increased doctor burnout as bedside manner is traded in for typing.
Connective Labor in the Gig Economy
In the gig economy, connective labor is subsumed by technology as part of overseeing and shaping consumer services. The system of ratings and reviews – though meant to provide quality control – cannot capture human relationships at scale. They make one feel very isolated; these places are quite oppressive to work in, with little connection with other subalterns as human beings. Social inequality, too, is posed in relation to connective labor. This oversight assumes only the affluent can afford to outsource any form of planning or advisory function, whether it be a therapist coach, investment adviser – that all other citizens (especially if marginalized) want direct support is a misnomer… personal services have their own attendant problems from condescension and judging.
Social Intimacy and Why It Is More Important Than Ever
Social intimacy is greater than simply a transactional lubricant, it’s the thread that knits together societies. Leaders who value relationship first are able to inspire their colleagues and help create an environment where one relates. Studies in the education literature highlight how powerful principals can influence school outcomes by “leading with love,” or making teachers’ working conditions better and their work more meaningful, which lifts teacher morale and promotes student learning. Construct play areas, school buildings, or baby stores: because these types of interaction need to make you feel a sense of belonging and community. This codetermination turns individuals into a supporting community, which in turn provides for our social health together. Essentially, we need those in-person interactions to thrive – something even the most advanced AI can’t replicate.
Closing Thoughts
And, even with all its advances and improvements: AI cannot do the human part of connective labor. Reaching out to other people is a crucial part of the work we must do in order both for ourselves and collectively. Although AI can help in many aspects of life, it is essential to identify and protect what makes human connection so unique. In the future, we will constantly need to find a middle ground between technology and human to convert technological advances back into (human) story.
FAQs
Q: What is connective labor? A: “Connective labor” means all of the invisible work that goes into keeping up with other human beings, making them feel seen, heard, and understood through a one-on-one interaction.
Q: What role do performance-based metrics and automation play in connective labor? A: When automation and over-standardization get in the way of personal relationships, interactions feel mechanical and an air is sucked out of work quality.
Q: What is the Importance of Social Intimacy? A: Social intimacy is a key ingredient for enhancing the sense of connection and community, which is fundamental to our wider social health.
Q: Will AI ever be able to fill the void of human connection? A: AI can customize and simulate social interactions, but it cannot recreate the spontaneous, spectacular, and deep aspects of human relationships.
Q: How do we strike that balance with AI and all of these advancements while still staying connected as human beings? A: We have to acknowledge that there is no substitute for the labor of connection, and we must strive that technology does not overshadow it.