Automation Anxiety, or: The Rise and Fall of the Human-Machine Interface
I was trapped in the window seat for more than six hours…I’d gotten up at four. The kind Uber driver was already there when I emerged at 4:46 am – trunk open, ready to go. Unlike some drivers – he happily hefted my oversized bag into his trunk. “I help everybody,” he said, proudly, “Even the men. I don’t care.” He kind disposition and warm smile set the day off on an up note. The following TSA security, plane boarding and flight went smooth. The man I ended up behind in line at the Clear line – was my seatmate in the two by two formation in the plane. I joked that now I’m stalking him – he laughed, but there was a moment of – “maybe she is” in his eyes. I put my headphones on, and tried to sleep.
“Oh no!,” I exclaimed to the lady, “My phone died waiting for all that!”
Over the course of music listening, emails, texts, and social media scrolling – my phone was down to 3% charge as I prepared to exit the plane. The emergency zone. I figured I’d just head to the lounge, and plug in there.
I asked a security guard directions and soon came across the escalator which would take me above the fray, or so I thought.
United has automated – to get into the lounge, you scan your boarding pass, and sometimes additional lounge passes. The woman in front of me had two “guests” with her; she scanned her boarding pass – it asks on the screen to indicate if its “Just You” or if you have guests. She thought she was done, and stood there waiting for the gate to open.
A United employee stood by, with a look equal measure of bemused and over it: I wondered how many times each day she goes through this same interaction. “You have to scan your guests’ boarding passes,” she tried to holler. The woman continued holding her phone in the area and staring, not comprehending what had gone wrong.
Digital systems are impatient: They’re coded largely by young people in their 20s, who, as children of the digital era, are an impatient bunch. Dating apps like Bumble are gamified for speed: Don’t reply in 24 hours? Your match disappears. You hesitated? Too bad. We’ve moved on without you.
The United automated gates have been programmed with this same sense of urgency: As the woman stood, phone in hand, flummoxed, the system went on without her. I saw the time out screen emerge. “Start Over – Scan your boarding pass!” it proclaimed in a fake friendly tone.
The employee tried to be helpful. The woman finally grocked what was going on, and scanned the other two boarding passes. The next man i line stepped forward. He opened his phone, searched for the boarding pass, scanned: An angry RED sign popped up: No Lounge Passes Found!
“I have them, I have them – I have a lounge pass.” More fumbling. The system timed out again.
The United employee stood there with that same incredulous look on her face. Over and over again, these same mini-debacles are repeated, day after day. I wondered what stories she’s gone home and told after a long day of this. “You wouldn’t believe this one guy!” I could hear it already.
What I realized, watching all this was – the masters of the universe behind the scenes how had created this system – didn’t take into account the fact that – people are tired, disoriented after 4 am wake up calls, hustling their things into a bag, getting to the airport on time. Even the anticipation of a much-desired vacation (Venice anyone?) – is met with some level of nerves. By the time all this is done, people traveling are often frazzled. They come to the lounges for – some kind of oasis from the cacophony of the airline terminals, and a plate of free food and a drink. Yet automation – with the promise to us of “ease” and “efficiency” – often causes even more chagrin than the alternative. Eventually, the idea will be to replace the three employees at the desk – with one. Or none at all. Automation is one great human-machine experiment: it goes well, when it does; but any variation from the expected responses, and suddenly all things go haywire.
I’d brought up the boarding pass on my phone when i first arrived in the line, at the United lounge automated gate. Yet – after the 4 am wake up call, the short trip to the airport and the long flight across the country – as I stepped forward to my turn – my phone suddenly died. Suddenly exasperated, “Oh no!,” I exclaimed to the lady, “My phone died waiting for all that!” She said nothing this time, just gave me a shrug and an “Oh well” smirk. Wait – I’d asked the man at the check-in gate to print out my boarding passes. “WIll it take a paper boarding pass?” “Yes,” she said. Saved, I quickly grabbed my purse, unfolded the passes, and scanned. VOila! Green light, the gates swung open – I was in.
We’re staking our lives on automation now, on the invisible machine behind an ever-enlarging sphere of services which are being automated. The business world refers to this as “digital transformation.” But who exactly is benefiting from all this? Is it us, the consumers? Or – is it the corporations, stockholders, and their bottom line?
I can’t help but think – many of the “fumbles” I see – stem from a basic lack of understanding of human behavior. I saw a job recently from one of the big tech companies – asking for an expert in Human – Computer interfaces. Interested, as a digital sociologist, I looked at it: Requirements? A computer science degree. So – it really wasn’t – an understanding of the *human* side of the human- computer interface at all.
Until companies do a better job at that interface – that United employee will no doubt have many many more days of free entertainment ahead.