Can AI Help Us Connect With the Real World?

—gremlin—Getty Images By now, everyone is accustomed to the idea that technology has disconnected us from the world and one another.

By design , smartphones, apps, and social media lure us in and capture our attention.

These technologies consume as much of our time as we allow them.

Technology has normalized taking our work home with us, answering emails and messages at all hours of the day.

Teenagers and the elderly alike scroll infinitely, if on different platforms.

This situation is often lamented for its connection to addiction, disinformation, radicalization, and social disharmony—among other concerns.

But as a technology critic who has written about toasters and slippers in addition to smartphones and the internet, I see another, more widespread effect of technological disconnection: It has robbed people of the small acts and moments of connection to the real, physical world.

No doubt, AI threatens to exacerbate this disconnection.

But I would argue that AI also has the potential to offer a solution—to help people look away from their screens and reconnect with the physical world.

It may sound ironic, but what if AI could make us more gratified? Today, you don’t tear a paper towel from the airport restroom; you wave your hand under it hoping the thing will see you.

You don’t feel the texture and narrow shape of the concert tickets in your pocket or hand; you scan a QR code instead.

A consequence of this process of dematerialization is a loss of gratification —my name for the sensory enchantment of everyday life.

All those tiny acts don’t always seem important, but they add up, offering an easy path to contentment.

Generative AI is also having a dematerializing effect on contemporary life.