Keep a personal touch

When people devalue something, they say things like, "that is a waste of time." \n"Don't waste my time," busy people complain. People really hate the notion of waste, especially waste of time. Technological advancement has focused on getting rid of it. Now you don't have to go to various places to do your business. You can do it by clicking on your personal computer or dialing on your phone. Complicated at the beginning, but once we get used to it, it seems to be a much faster and more efficient way to do our business.\nBut this technological revolution not only got rid of our "waste of time," but also reduced the occasions of our direct, interpersonal encounters -- the quintessence of our human sociality. \nYears ago, when I was at a cashier's counter in a grocery store, the cashier weighed my plastic bag of green beans and exclaimed, "$2 even! How could you do that?" \nI responded to him with a grin. A couple of customers next to me put forth a little "wow!" and smiled. It was as if a little spontaneous celebration for my having grabbed an exact $2 worth of green beans was taking place. \nThis was one of the trivial daily incidents that make people feel good. It might have even been brought up at their dinner table that evening. Unfortunately, that same store has now set up a customer self-scanning machine called "U-scan" beside the ordinary cashier's counters. One cashier at the station supervises four self-scanning machines and assists customers who use them. \nNow it is with this machine that the customer interacts. It doesn't respond like the cashier who gaily noted the amount of green beans I grabbed years ago. No good feeling. No good story either.\nOf course, our interpersonal encounters aren't always that pleasant. People can be rude to each other, depending on the mood of each person and society. With no words, no eye contact, a cashier can deal with a customer as if there is no human there at all. So too can a customer treat a cashier. When that unpleasant encounter happens, people might even prefer machine to people. \nA machine doesn't give you a warm feeling but at least it's fair. It doesn't care who you are, whether you are good or bad, tall or small. Just as in the film "Other People's Money," it is said that "… money, it don't care whether I'm good or not, it don't care whether I snore or not, it don't care which god I pray to, … unconditional acceptance …" \nWe can seek comfort in this eerie, unconditional acceptance that technology and money confer, and to some extent we already do. But can you say that's the solution to human social problems we face every day? I don't.\n At IU, I have witnessed so many things on campus become digitized tremendously in these years. Accordingly, the occasions of "personal touch" in business on campus have been reduced to some extent. IU did not waste any time to catch up with the "real world," which is a part of the University's job.\n But what about the other function of the University, which is, I believe, to make the students and society critical of the same "real world"? In a recent IDS poll about campus diversity issues, nearly half of students sampled said, "We don't care." \nI believe the issue of diversity, among other issues, is not just the matter of classroom discussion or that of institutional special events but a matter of simple human social practice, our daily encounter and interaction with the stranger(s) at the grocery store or admissions office. Those encounters are spontaneous and voluntary. \nLet's save our precious occasions of "personal touch," even with a bit of "waste of time"