Friction-Maxxing and Critical Thinking - do we have to re-learn how to be human?

Two recent articles represent a growing and more documented realisation that, in particular, young people are finding usually normal interactions difficult and resorting to AI for assistance. Others, in a show of contrarian independence, are seeking friction-maxxing. That there are two competing methods of dealing with human situations suggests that there is indeed a battle going on for normality in performance of tasks involving "emotional labour". 

Friction-maxxing can be scoffed at as advice on "such superhuman feats as seeing your friends in person rather than just WhatsApping them, and actively trying to remember something rather than just falling back on Google.... [it] sounds suspiciously like the rebranding under an irritating new name of what used to be considered merely living." (from Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian, April 10th)

In the CNN article, such is the level of "social offloading" taking place, researchers are advising parents of young people to watch "for warning signs, including social withdrawal, declining grades or a growing preference for AI over human interaction." Difficult conversations or the processing of intense emotions are being moved from friends and family to a ChatGPT prompt, with all the attendant deficiencies  you might suspect. In an example from the piece, a young man tried to communicate clearly with a young woman he had been on a date with using an overly elaborate and ultimately unhelpful AI generated text! 

A real harm that this outsourcing can do to young people, is the erosion of their confidence in their ability to learn the required skills to, for example, read social cues or "tolerating ambiguity". As the Guardian article put it, "perhaps the main skill at risk in a more friction-free world is that of patience with other people, in all their infinite capacity to be annoying."

"The goal is to get kids thinking critically about what AI does well and where it falls short, said Robb, who suggested that families consider limits to AI-usage similar to screen time rules."

But Gaby Hinsliff points out that friction maxxing has benefits for everyone, and is an important part of understanding a democracy as it is "ultimately friction, since it means accepting that other people also have a say."

While certainly Gen Z and other young people face real challenges in developing the critical thinking and social skills some of us take for granted, a concerted effort from all of us to choose a slightly less easy or tech-enabled option for some tasks and responsibilities will pay off for us too.