The Cost of Modern Progress

I don’t want to go to the grocery store! I’ll order it and have it delivered. My child doesn’t want to call Grammie. He texts her. My husband hates clothes shopping, so departmentstore.com (not a real thing) is open on the laptop. Mary doesn’t feel well, so she went to TeleDoc. On and on, we are gaining more and more convenience and leisure. We can do just about everything from the privacy of our homes, at our computer screens.

Want to see a movie? There’s an app for that. Need to buy stocks? There are a plethora of apps for that. From grammar school through junior high, high school, and all the way through university, you never have to open your front door or hop in your car. You can learn everything online. I am fairly certain that even medical professionals will, at some point, be able to complete their surgical residency online. What a frightening concept.

As AI becomes more proficient at everything humans can do, it will replace us not just in technical or manual tasks but also in creative work like art, writing, and music. It already does in music. I can’t tell you how many artists and songs I have on my Spotify that are AI-created. Even the singer or the group is AI-generated. I know, I know, I am contributing to the obsolescence of musicians. Here is the thing, though. The music is better, and the voices are incredible. Whatever algorithm AI is using is fantastic. The voices are powerful, the lyrics are meaningful, clear, and clean, and the tune is catchy and memorable enough to keep you wanting to hear it again and again. I couldn’t even tell the difference at first. I still can’t. I deleted them at the beginning, but the music was so good that I still wanted to hear it. So I fell victim to a program's perfect creation. Sue me.

There is nothing AI cannot simulate and make infinitely better than a human. We already see it resurrect even the dead. Deceased actors can star in new movies. It’s astounding. Scary, but astounding. Even my chosen work is being taken over. So many writers are using AI to create their content that it makes me wonder if we will ever be needed. Publishers don’t accept any submissions written by AI, but in the end, they will all fall to the Bot. It learns everything from humanity and can probably create works that are unparalleled by humans. This is tragic.

While it can create anything and, eventually, everything, it will never understand the human condition and emotions beyond a formulaic program of words. It will never feel pain, anguish, loss, joy, hatred, or anger. It will never be what is beautifully human, even when we are at our ugliest. What will we do? What can we do?

We are already seeing the repercussions of all the modern advancements we have created. We have begun to see change not just in the last few decades. From industrialization forward, we have seen what it does to society. It has an effect, no matter how you look at it.

I am all for making life simpler. I am not for making it easy. Easy equals lazy and unmotivated. Easy breeds a lack of striving. Why shoot for the stars when they are already in your hand with the click of a mouse? Why get a job when you can create an app or a video clip that lasts under 15 seconds? If everyone with little to no talent or intelligence can make a risqué or shocking reel and make a ton of money, why even go to school? This is what has happened and is continuing to happen. The hard-working kid, busting his or her hump to get ahead, is a dinosaur. I hear it from employers all over the place. What are we making? Obsolescence.

Substance is not the only consequence of progress, however. I am willing to guess that everyone already sees where I am going with this. We are losing our ability to socialize and to be human to one another.

Adolescents don’t know how to communicate. Most can’t communicate without emojis or a couple of letters meant to be a sentence. It is frightening to see how few can spell, let alone use grammar. They worship computers and algorithms. Everything they do is to master SEO on every platform and get the golden ticket to fame and fortune. How sad.

What disturbs me most is that they don’t know how to relate to people their age, let alone to professionals or adults. Heck, many can’t even relate to their own family members. They have no social graces and no idea what compassion or empathy is. How could they? These generations don’t actually interact with other people. Adults are having fewer and fewer interactions with other people.

We go out less, and we don’t talk on the phone or over coffee with our friends. People don’t seem to just get together to talk anymore. You all know it’s true. You sit at the dining table and bury your head in your phone and your platform feeds. We troll and scroll scene after scene, looking for the spark that will light our ticking time bomb, and then we rumble. And we continue to seek out what enrages or shocks us. To me, that seems like it should have some kind of psychological diagnosis. Oh wait! It does. Antisocial.

Amid all of these negatives, there is one more that is the most alarming. Well, there is more than one, but this one is the most concerning. The thing we are failing to look at is the chronic and pandemic loneliness and depression that all of this progress has created. Never before have we seen the levels of depression among youth and adults. We are lonely and sad.

Pharmaceutical companies are raking in the big bucks on antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and even ADHD medications. We know there is no interest in them fixing that on their end.

Has anyone ever noticed that as children spend more and more time engaged with electronics and technology, ADHD rates have risen higher and higher? Kids don’t go outside to play like they used to. They sit in front of a gaming console and kill each other or hunt each other down, which are the number one types of games played by our kids, first-person shooter games. What are we doing?

Why do they have no ability to relate and compromise in this world? They don’t get to deal with each other one-on-one and learn how to give and take. There is no concept of how to be nice to someone who upset you.

We are human beings, social creatures who need other people. Without real-world interaction and human touch, we are not okay. We break down. Society breaks down. We are seeing that happen every day. None of us is immune to the consequences of the monster we are creating. Loneliness, hostility, depression, and anxiety can all be linked to it.

I, too, experience these things every so often. I am a writer and an amateur artist. Those two pursuits take up a lot of time. I sit in my office or studio most of the day creating. It has a consequence, a benefit, yes, but also a consequence. I like being home. I like it more and more each year, and I dislike having to leave it for any reason. My socializing has waned, like so many others’.

I am not a fan of the social climate of hatred out there in the world. I am old school, and that is not popular with many anymore. I was taught to work hard and be diligent, and to strive for excellence. Doing things for myself, rather than expecting others to do them or provide for me, is at the core of my makeup. This is lacking these days, and I don’t understand that lack of motivation and ambition.

There are still some of us left, the ones willing to work hard and climb the ladder, but we are slowly being outnumbered by the mediocre, who pursue a fast track to success at whatever the cost. We are being replaced faster every day by the artificial intelligence we have created, without regard for the consequences for humanity's future. I worry about that future.

A future without feeling anything for anyone, with lackluster humans without any drive, marked by laziness and mediocrity, is not a pleasant thought. Humanity seems replaceable. I hope I am wrong, but I have seen enough of life to feel that I am not. We will have to see, as this leviathan of technology continues to emerge, how it changes us.

I do know we are not the same now, and we won’t be the same in the future. I just hope we remain human.

(Published in Pen with Paper on Medium, May 2026)

#writingcommunity #life #essay #artificialIntelligence #mentalhealth

(Published on Medium)

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