If you’re like me, every day you get bombarded with unsolicited emails, texts, calls, and DMs trying to get you to buy something (or vote for someone). It’s exhausting! I try to stay on top of it by dedicating regular time to “clean up” my emails and unsubscribe from the madness.
Last month, I was in the midst of one of my clean ups when I got a text from an unknown number:
I typed “STOP,” as we’re told to do to opt out of automated messages. I assumed that two seconds later, I’d get an auto response saying “You’ve been unsubscribed.”
But instead I received the following message: “Very nice of you.”
OMG! There was a human on the other side of this text. Mortified, I texted back:
In a world where everything has become more automated…how do we know when we’re interacting with a chat bot or a human?
And maybe a better question is: Should it change how we show up?
Here are three thoughts on how to navigate communication in this increasingly AI-driven world:
- Assume there might be a human on the other end. Even if a message feels a bit robotic, there may still be a person trying to do their job. A little grace can go a long way. So when in doubt…choose kindness!
- Clarity is the new courtesy. Instead of one-word replies (like mine), we might try a simple: “Thank you, but I’m not interested. Please remove me.” Human or not, it keeps the interaction respectful and effective.
- Automation isn’t going away, but our humanity is still our superpower. As AI becomes more pervasive, the line between human and artificial will continue to get blurrier. But that means interacting with empathy, curiosity, and intention will matter more, not less.
Maybe at the end of the day, it’s less about who (or what) is on the other end. It’s more about how we choose to show up. Hopefully, with our humanity intact.
7/1/25
