AI Is Making You Dumber: Why You Need Real Conversations to Survive

AI is making you dumber. And more boring.

You've probably done this a few times today already: you pop open one of those fancy AI chat apps and ask it to write for you. You craft that beautiful email, text message, or dating app reply. It's safe, clean, perfectly optimized and yeah, it sounds like everyone else.

The truth is that our corporate AI overlords don't want us to think. They want us to press a big button that tells us what to say. They want our money and they want full control of how we think about that money.

This is scary but it is also really annoying and you can probably tell that I am annoyed.

In defense of real human connection

What if all this AI gloss is actually bad? What if a lot of friction, mess, and awkwardness is good for you?

Think about your most memorable conversations. They were not scripted. There were awkward pauses. Those sad stories and strange memories don't fit into AI's sterile and boring copy mush. Because there is truth in these awkward moments.

I'm sure you've had some of those conversations where you said the wrong thing and replayed it in your head for days. I have done it many times. Is that a failure? No, that was your brain learning and adapting, and becoming more human. These conversations are actually unpredictable and incredible growth moments.

The frictionless world is bad

The really rich people in America told us that AI would create a world without friction. We will be out of jobs but at least every interaction will be smooth and lacking discomfort.

The problem with this, and there are many problems of course, is that when you let AI handle most of your thinking, you're not just outsourcing words, you're outsourcing general brain power and any self-improvement that may come from that. You're trading the messy, real-life experience of human connection for beep-boop tech efficiency.

Real conversations are good

Talk to people, don't be scripted, and be okay with making mistakes.

Walk away from weird moments and replay them in your head, wondering what you could've done better. That's fine! It's actually natural because friction is good. You can't have perfect conversations all the time, or ever, really. And that's the point.

Give reality a try

This wouldn't be my card game company's Shopify-powered SEO-friendly blog post without me embracing capitalism and selling you our reasonably priced solution. But at least it's a fun solution.

It's time to turn off the screens and ease yourself back into the real-world. Sit down with friends or family and get confronted with questions that are silly but matter. Real questions that are often hard and sometimes unusual. Truly weird questions that help you get back to being a normal, high-functioning human.

Try putting your phone in the fridge or somewhere you'll forget about it. Answer a few bizarre questions and always answer honestly, even when you're uncomfortable. As strange as it sounds, discomfort can be enlightening. Give it a try.

To be very clear, Are You Sitting Down? Classic Pack is a crutch. It won't fully heal you from the annoyances of AI, but it may pull you out of a tech rut and into the kind of conversations that actually change you. AI doesn't know what it's like to be humanly vulnerable or imperfect, and I don't think this is ever coming soon.

The bottom line

Sure, AI has its place. It should cure cancer, solve climate change and replace corrupt politicians. That would be nice. But it shouldn't replace what we have somehow taken for granted: IRL experiences of messy conversations, and the growth that comes from not having all the answers.

Pick up a pack. Start the conversation. Look each other in the eyes for too long. Embrace the imperfections and have fun. That's the good stuff.