Touching

Neehar Ravi
Sep 3, 2018 · 5 min read

I’ll be honest though. I’m horrible at Tinder. Its almost a game. I’m losing. Even though we are talking about people. There are websites where I do have some luck, ie. places that don’t need to see my ugly mug. When its all wordplay, I do have some luck. Very futile in the face of real pleasure. Still.

Anyway, my point is about the possibility of technology replacing human contact. A real modern day tug of war. Real friends try their best to keep the banter going. But here we go… another notification. Someone liked my ridiculous photo. Can’t wait till he realizes it was photoshopped. A painfully obvious lack of sincerity. It allows me to be free from saying, “I did that horrible thing". It is a struggle to be sincere at all, with or without Photoshop. The freedoms of technology often dissuade me from any show of authenticity.

I want to touch on three major changes offered by technology:

  1. Convenience
  2. Instant Knowledge
  3. A new sense of Touch
  4. Convenience

Its very easy to say that this is an obvious point. The obvious nature of this benefit is also why technology has often made our lives almost too convenient. Trusting our human experience and self-control enabled the innovation of technology. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the primary objective of technical innovation was not convenience but warfare. There is an innately aggressive side to technology which, if misunderstood, could lead a person to simply submit to the tyranny of every new development.

A consequence of this deception can be seen within technology itself, specifically the world of coding and programmers. The possibility of learning how to code simply by having an internet connection means that many youngsters rush toward this lucrative occupation. Even if one is unsure of how to do something, they only need to Google the problem to find a suggested solution. A surface-level answer for questions encourage those who are desperate for success to clutch at this new, convenient method.

The convenience of technology is not only in terms of building such futuristic networks, but also as a way to keep in touch with friends and family around the world. It is so easy now for my mother to catch up with her mother on the other side of the world. Often completely free of extra charge, thanks to an Internet connection and Whatsapp. Such convenience adds to the appeal of technology.

2. Instant Knowledge

This is a major ideal behind technological attempts to make any knowledge accessible. The convenience of technology serves to reinforce the illusion of life as a possibility in digital terms. This possibility is then made authentic through the provision of information about real life experiences and problems. Websites on self-help and various aspects of human behaviour are written in timely, precise language that allows for such information to replace conversations with friends and family. There is a positive side to this since absorbing important facts of life while alone allows a person to reflect and come to their own conclusions. However, there is no clear path to move past knowledge and into real experience. This furthers the authenticity of the digital vault of information as an experience in itself.

I speak from the experience of having my life redirected several times by information found online. The novelty of talking to people from countries I’ve never been to only adds to the information I receive as something that could become part of my truth. However, such information is often too far removed from my personal experience of life so far. This paradox leads to an entrapment within experience. I come to value the seriousness of a legacy of experiences rather than letting go of the quest for some perfect experience. While technology’s drive for immediate knowledge can be just as immediately gratifying, it leaves me tethered to facets of life that are only worldly.

3. A New Sense of Touch

What makes the digital experience so convincing and persuasive? It takes humanity toward a new kind of experience. Best summed up by the new kind of touch to interact with phones and tablets. This promise of something that is beyond the known overrides the “boring" fact that this new experience is only a reconfiguration of something primordial. There would be nothing particularly bad about this if it wasn’t for a central change requested by the digital world. The change from a human emotive touch to an objective digital one. Every real change is becoming mediated by a digital one. A political campaign cannot be successful without a loyal mailing list. A relationship can be shaken by hidden messages. Children grow up expecting things that their parents don’t even understand. A new language synonymous with a new touch must be understood first.

Is it possible to replace the human meaning of a touch with something that is merely a touch? This is the dilemma facing the virtual realist today. The attempt is to construct a thoughtful replacement for a feeling. As if a thing could replace a person. Unthinkable for a generation that felt a life before a smartphone. But what use is feeling to the progressive one? The trouble is that such a question cannot be answered in words. Besides, feelings are not present to be used. They only seem that way to an age that markets itself on statistical analyses of feeling.

Absent from feeling, the technological touch methodically replaces human contact. It is only a matter of piecing together the human puzzle. I begin to lose my sensitivity toward others. The arrogance and self-absorption so heavily criticised by others, seems to be an asset in this digital world. I begin to take people for granted, as if they are subject to the information I know. My touch loses grace.


It is obvious by now that I am willing to sound naive, if only to defend a part of me that lacks intelligence. No thought comes close to capturing the deep fears I have of withering away. Of being unable to let go, not even for a few laughs at my own expense. The new digital touch convinces me to remain only logical, if only for the sake of my reputation and merit during this new way of life. I look at the few brief experiences that have filled my digital reality. Attempts to be in time with the times. They show me as a person that I can hardly recognise. Someone trying to be, yet completely lost in a thing.

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