My barbershop comes with a cool feature called human interaction, which is useful for raising serotonin levels in the brain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber
>Barbershops are also places of social interaction and public discourse. In some instances, barbershops are also public forums. They are the locations of open debates, voicing public concerns, and engaging citizens in discussions about contemporary issues.
https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog/community-roles-barber-shop-and-b...
>Since the turn of the 19th century, beauty salons and barber shops have served as special places among African Americans. They have been places not only to get hair care services but locations where black people could be vulnerable and talk about issues of importance in the community. There were spaces where customers played games such as chess, cards, and dominoes, while having conversations about local gossip, politics, and community affairs.
And this isn't just an African American thing, it's a white thing, it's a Hispanic thing, it's an everyone thing.
Here's an article about how governments and non-profits are using salons and the like to help educate people about things, like getting help for domestic violence
https://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-barbershops-hair-s...
Recently in the medical drama New Amsterdam one of the main characters tried to set up a clinic in a low-income neighborhood barber shop (and it was likely taken directly from this real news https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/cutting-hair-blo... ).
Why do you think there is a line of films called Barbershop?
Or that on shows and movies of yesteryear, like The Andy Griffith Show, barbershops were hubs of the community where the men went (and still do) go to socialize?
https://www.thefader.com/2017/10/23/black-barbershops-photo-...
https://www.wnyc.org/story/fear-black-barbershop/
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/rediscovering-the-ba...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/07/06/barbershops-a...
https://www.ogleschool.edu/blog/resurgence-of-the-great-amer...
https://business.mindbody.io/education/blog/barber-shops-tre...
https://nearsay.com/c/456502/306271/why-barbershops-have-see...
https://scandinaviantraveler.com/en/lifestyle/retro-barbersh...
(Also that demographic is already served by hair-cutting vacuum cleaner gadgets.)
Before I found my current barber, I used to go to a 'hair salon' sort of place that had very talkative hip young hairdressers. They were always friendly but I found them harder to relate to. It was also a lot more crowded which didn't help, and they always seemed a little disappointed when I asked for a regular haircut.
If there were a robot at the mall I could get it done at 9pm on a Tuesday or whenever I have a moment.
Trying to turn on my "fun conversationalist" module with a stranger I have very little in common with can certainly feel like a painful chore for me.
Put another way, I'd rather not have to perform.
Shush it with your insightful biochemistry-evolution talk, just nod in agreement to the proponents who would rather make everyone live in the same bleak, isolating life of meaningless distraction that they have.
They have all that sweet VC money and we're all here to sell our apps!
"I want a robot to cut my hair in 2 minutes because why would I want to have to talk to a human being"
Or one that really alarmed me was Rob Rhinehart's (Soylent) comments about groceries
https://www.businessinsider.com/soylent-ceo-rob-rhinehart-qu...
>I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears.
We're turning into a reclusive, anti-social, afraid of each other, society because those are the types that get funding.
Shakespeare was a fortune teller:
>And private in his chamber pens himself,
>Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,
>And makes himself an artificial night.
>Black and portentous must this humor prove
>Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
I don't want to spend all of my time alone, staring at one display or another, interacting with code or algorithm-selected content.
Thank you for being one of the sane ones that sees the absurdity of it!
Small talk with a complete stranger cutting my hair feels very awkward though. We're not friends, have nothing in common, and I typically have nothing to say to him. Which means it's a considerable and awkward effort to keep a conversation going.
A cashier who asks "Did you find everything alright" because she gets fired if she doesn't also feels like talking to a hostage. That's a different thing, but it is also often cited as "human contact" by people, and that is very alien to me.