How Technology is Eroding Our Most Fundamental Human Skill
In an era dominated by Zoom meetings, Slack channels, and LinkedIn profiles, our ability to truly understand and connect with others is at risk. Richard Davis, author of “Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality,” argues that our increasing reliance on technology is eroding a fundamental human skill: the ability to perceive and understand others in face-to-face interactions.
In a recent conversation, Davis shared with me that he’s “broadly concerned that the ability to have insight into other people is at risk of atrophy, that we are in the process of losing it as a species, and that has serious implications.” This erosion of interpersonal perception skills, he argues, stems from our constant engagement with digital devices and the shift towards virtual interactions.
The Perils of Digital-Only Connections
What Davis calls perceptivity—the ability to discern the character of others and reliably predict their behavior on the basis of said character—erodes with “our heads focused on our phone all the time, or making so many of our conversations, connections and decisions over Zoom.”
“So much fidelity is lost through being constantly online,” Davis points out. “And this loss of fidelity in digital interactions can lead to misunderstandings, poor judgment, and missed opportunities to truly connect with others.”
The Value of In-Person Perception
Why does this matter? Davis argues that the ability to understand others is crucial for success and happiness in all aspects of life. “It applies to our success and happiness in life far beyond the workplace.” In essence, our ability to read and understand others is a fundamental life skill that impacts everything from our personal relationships to our professional success. As we increasingly rely on digital interactions, we risk losing the nuanced understanding that comes from face-to-face encounters.
Strategies for Maintaining and Improving In-Person Perception Skills
So how can we maintain and improve our ability to understand others in an increasingly digital world? Davis offers several strategies:
1. Prioritize Face-to-Face Interactions
“If you are making a decision, don’t do it by Zoom, do it in person,” Davis advises. While digital tools have their place, crucial decisions and important relationship-building should happen in person whenever possible.
2. Develop a Framework for Understanding Personality
Davis recommends using a framework based on the Big Five personality traits to help structure our observations of others. He adapts this into five “boxes”: intellect, sociability, emotionality, drive, and diligence. By having these categories in mind, we can more effectively process and remember the information we gather about others in face-to-face interactions.
3. Practice Active Observation
“Start looking up from digital devices and practicing this perceptivity muscle. Pay attention to people, and be a student of behavior,” Davis suggests. He encourages us to “revert back to an almost childlike curiosity of the people with whom we’re interacting. Ask yourself, ‘What am I really seeing? Am I truly paying attention to this other person?'”
4. Create Opportunities for Revealing Personalities
As leaders and colleagues, we can create environments that encourage people to reveal more about themselves. Davis advises, “A key part of a leader’s job is to ask the right questions and comport yourself in a such a way that people will reveal their personalities.”
5. Be Open and Transparent
To encourage others to open up, we need to model openness ourselves. “People will close up if they feel as though they’re being interrogated,” Davis warns. Instead, he recommends being “relaxed, in order to make people feel comfortable and reveal more of themselves.”
The Urgency of Preserving In-Person Perception Skills
Davis draws a compelling parallel to illustrate the urgency of preserving our in-person perception skills: “The analogy I use is ‘wayfinding.’ We’ve essentially outsourced our wayfinding ability to phones and GPS, and it’s the same thing with perceptivity. We used to have the ability to get from point A to point B. But these days, far too many people are incapable of navigating somewhere without their phone providing turn-by-turn directions.”
Just as we risk losing our innate sense of direction by over-relying on GPS, we risk losing our ability to truly understand and connect with others by over-relying on digital interactions. The consequences of this loss could be profound, affecting everything from our personal relationships to our professional success.
As we navigate an increasingly digital world, it’s crucial that we consciously work to maintain and improve our in-person perception skills. By prioritizing face-to-face interactions, developing frameworks for understanding others, practicing active observation, and creating environments that encourage openness, we can preserve this fundamental human ability.
In Davis’s words, “We need to collectively look up, pay attention, and interact with people in person as much as possible.” Our ability to truly understand and connect with others may depend on it.
