Technology, Human Relationships, and Human Interaction

Angela N. Bullock, Alex D. Colvin

Introduction
The utilization of technology to create and maintain relationships among people has become commonplace.
According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of American adults who own a tablet computer increased
from 3 percent in 2010 to 45 percent in 2015, and the percentage of American adults who own a cell phone increased
from 53 percent in 2000 to 92 percent in 2015. Furthermore, in 2015, 76 percent of online adults used some type of
social networking site, compared to 8 percent in 2005. Technology is often introduced into a social system with the
stated intention of making life easier for people. As technology becomes more pervasive in everyday life, the
assessment of technology’s presence in relationships and its impact on how humans interact with one another is an
emerging area of study. There are many perspectives on the relationship between technology and human
interactions and relationships. It is purported that the integration of technologies in everyday life can have profound
effects on human relationships, in both positive and negative ways. More notably, technologies impact on or interfere
with how individuals engage in interpersonal relationships, behave within relationships, and project feelings and
meanings including displays of emotions and love. Essentially, the new technological landscape now connects to
what it means to be human.

Introductory Works
This section presents a sample of early works that guided research into the fostering of relationships and
interpersonal interactions through technology. Kiesler, et al. 1984 looks beyond the efficiency and technical
capabilities of computer communication technologies and provides insight into the psychological, social, and cultural
significance of technology. Jones 1994 provides a comprehensive examination of the varying aspects of social
relationships in cyberspace. Preliminary studies that provide best-practice recommendations for the adoption of
technology-based intervention in social work practice include Pardeck and Schulte 1990; Cwikel and Cnaan
1991; Schopler, et al. 1998; and Gonchar and Adams 2000. Lea and Spears 1995; Kraut, et al. 1998; and Nie and
Erbring 2000 offer early insight into how the Internet began to shape the way humans interact.

Technology and Human Relationships

"We shouldn't be trying to disrupt the things that make us uniquely human."
by Kristina Saffran, Cofounder and Director — Project HEAL

Courtesy of Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash

I’ve been thinking a lot about the limits of technology in solving social problems. As the co-founder and
executive director of a mental health non-profit, I’ve become increasingly immersed in the social
entrepreneurship community, which has introduced me to some fascinating people, inspiring leaders,
and important ways to think about non-profit sustainability, impact and scale. I also spent the last three
years in Silicon Valley. Both of these communities have been formative for me, but they can both be
myopic in their view that technology can solve all problems.

This is especially true in the mental health field. Mental health technology is a booming new space;
there are thousands of mental health apps in the ITunes and Android App stores, and the number is
growing everyday. And while there are benefits to this technology (convenience, anonymity, access for
more people at a lower cost), there are also reasons for caution. There are no standards for evaluating
the effectiveness of these apps, and many programs oversell their benefits. In fact, maintaining client
engagement with many of these apps has been a challenge, with usage dwindling rapidly over the first
few months. But unbridled techno-optimists tend to ignore these drawbacks, some now celebrating the
idea that robots can replace humans as therapists.

In the past few months, I’ve been a finalist in two social entrepreneurship pitch competitions. I lost both
of them, and like any good social entrepreneur, I contacted all the judges for feedback. What could I do
better next time – delivery, framing of the problem, was something unclear? Their response was
interesting. “No, your pitch was great. But there wasn’t enough technology.”

…That’s because we’re not a tech company. And we shouldn’t be! We work to help people with eating
disorders, a mental health issue with complex psychological, neurobiological, cultural and genetic
underpinnings; no app will ever be “the solution.”

Technology can be an important tool to help us amplify the human relationships at the core of our work.
For a new peer support program, we’re utilizing the leading app in the space to connect our
beneficiaries, have developed a comprehensive online training program for our peer mentors that can
we accessed anywhere in the world, and are offering online mentorship (meetings via skype) in addition
to in person meetings.

But at the end of the day, the human relationships are still central. Our peer mentors build relationships
with those in the mental anguish of an eating disorder and act as role models, sharing their own stories
of how they emerged from the darkness of an eating disorder, and helping their mentees build a life
outside of their eating disorder worth living. It’s all about the relationship.

There is a broader message here too. In a world obsessed with technology, we don’t often stop to think
about how tech might detract from our human relationships, contributing to less intimacy and
vulnerability. While adolescents and teens of past generations used to hang out at one another’s houses
after school, today they are much more likely to go home alone and “plug in” to their social worlds.
Family cars rides used to be a place for reflection and conversation, but have now become a time to
catch up on emails and respond to texts. Always feeling pressed for time, we choose to shoot a text to
our friend instead of calling to check in. But a “how are you” via text is very different from a “how are
you” over the phone. We can filter and present a perfectly curated version of ourselves, but what are
we losing?

Decades of social science research have shown that having strong social connections is fundamental to
human happiness. And weaker social interactions with a large number of changing people leads to less
happiness and fulfillment. In our quest to scale mental health solutions rapidly, let’s not forget what
really matters. There are problems that still require good old fashioned elbow grease, and their
solutions often help bolster society and reinforce our humanity. We shouldn't be trying to disrupt the
things that make us uniquely human.