alt Hacker News> Sometimes it feels like all digital technology is simply an enterprise to replace human to human contact.
Hasn't it always been the case that technology reduces the contact with other people? Now with cars we don't need to sit next to others on trains, we don't need to ask pedestrians for directions thanks to GPS etc.
Not always no and to your example with cars we've seen the results as upticks in roadrage. The car is treated as a safe little bubble and the other cars aren't people, they are just cars and what you do and say to them doesn't matter. Just like the internet where they aren't people you're talking to, its just text on a screen.
Technology has drawbacks, the question is are the drawbacks greater than it's benefits. Part of the answer is personal, some people can handle them better than others. Other parts are societal, what's the impact on society of the people that's can't handle it (mass shooters, roadrage, suicides etc).
It's a tough nut to crack.