The World is Flat post 4

In The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, Friedman shows us many positive outcomes for flat world but in doing so we stumble upon a select few negative consequences as well. The world seems to have become a much less personal place. A man that Friedman interviewed for his book happened to be a salesman and he stated that his sales were beginning to drop because he can no longer connect as well with his clients. Everything is done digitally even sales so salesmen are beginning to have a lot more trouble relating on a personal level with their clients before making a sales pitch.

Often times a lot of confusion can come with the lack of human interaction. At one point in the book we are told of Friedman's frustration as he tries to get a phone number from a robotic answering system. However I am sure that the managers of the company will not pay much attention to a few peoples frustration levels when it comes down to pay day. It is much cheaper to keep a computer operator working than it is to keep an actual person on the phones all day long. To this Friedman says "because when you take the middle man out of business, when you totally flatten your supply chain, you also take a certain element of humanity out of life."

Technology is improving our world in several ways and making everyday life much easier for all of us. However, I fear that we are beginning to lack when it comes to human interaction. We have gone from person to person interaction, to person to computer, to what is now computer to computer. As technology continues to advance even further I am sure that this is not going to be getting any better anytime soon.