We Need Each Other

Among the essential lessons of the modern era is this: People need people.

We need each other in ways, big and small, that many are missing now that the internet and social media have transformed the basic structure of human life.

We need teachers to teach our kids. We need bartenders to pour our drinks. We need stylists to cut our hair. We need our fellow fans—sitting next to us, hot dogs in hand—to help cheer on our team.

People, indeed, need people. Not behind a digital screen, but up close.

In real life.

Before algorithms, feeds, text messages, and video calls dominated our lives, this elaborate structure of human interdependence went unappreciated. The ways we benefited from physical interaction with each other simply blended into the mundane mechanics of everyday life. Today, when we pause to consider how much less we interact with other people, the void looms large.

This will likely get worse as robots start appearing more and more in our lives, further replacing human contact and interaction.

Even eradicating it for some.

Elon Musk predicts that there will be“10 billion” or more “humanoid robots” roaming the earth by 2040.

But humans are not machines. In 2023,U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in his advisory on our "epidemic of loneliness," there is "reallyno substitute for in-person interaction," Murthy said. “As we shifted to use technology more and more for our communication, we lost out on a lot of that in-person interaction. How do we design technology that strengthens our relationships as opposed to weaken them?”

The disappearance of so much genuine human-to-human contact highlights the fundamental role other people play in our daily lives. The negative trends are causing severe problems for our collective well-being.

How might it impact our lives if we step away more from our devices?

The recognition that a core need is being pushed aside by excessive screen time should lead to one thing above all: renewed appreciation for real-world connection.

For all of the strife and discord online today, the core truth remains that we need each other—and that irrespective of political, philosophical, or religious differences, we are one large interdependent nucleus of human life.

It doesn't really matter if the local teacher is a Republican or a Democrat; what matters is that she is there to teach our kids.

In person.

It doesn't really matter if the local barber is religious or not; what matters is that he is there to cut our hair.

In person.

And it doesn't really matter if our favorite baseball player is liberal or conservative; what matters is that we can high-five the fan next to us after his home runs.

In person.

We need each other. And the sustained absence of this core human need should teach us to appreciate the many human hands that quietly shape our daily experience. It should make us want to shake those hands with our own.

So much of the essential, face-to-face interaction among humans has been missing for too long, replaced by harmful online distance. But we can bring it back. This lesson—that people need people—should compel us, going forward, to break free from our screens and connect with each other again.

William Cooper