| Strangers with Friends  It's amazing how much our lives have changed without us quite being aware of it. On a recent trip abroad, our group was met at the airport by a representative of the travel agency who handed over our electronic room access cards, those magnetic strips that have replaced keys. At the hotel, we went straight to our rooms without even noticing the reception desk, check in counter or concierge. Convenience and time-saving devices are slowly eliminating human contact from our lives. I recall a time when it was an agreeable experience chatting with the reception staff or concierge, getting some advice on local attractions and discussing your preferences regarding service. It happens rarely these days. Electronic everything dominates our existence. The reverse process happened while checking out. We spent three days at a hotel without the slightest contact with any of the staff!  It's not just hotels. No one goes to a bank anymore: you can access your account from your computer and ATMs and debit cards take care of the rest. Post offices are passé as are airline offices with e-tickets and e-mails having done away with much of their usefulness. In the bargain, we have eliminated interaction with their personnel. A few years ago, I knew who handled my bank account and he/she knew me. It helped in an emergency or if I needed to be informed when a deposit had been credited to my account. Now, it could be a robot for all I know-or care. We have embraced the impersonal without quite noticing that a large chunk of our lives has gone missing. Time, or the lack of it, has as much to do with that situation as has the advance of technology but it is making us a generation of strangers who pass each other in high-speed elevators. Technology has reduced interaction between customer and service provider to a bare minimum, as it has between friends and acquaintances. Time was when you waited for a gathering of friends before you related that latest news or gossip. Now, it's done by e-mail or SMS. I converse more often with friends electronically than I do in person. It's a demand of the times but it comes at a price. Man is essentially a social animal and human interaction is one of the pleasures of life. We seem to be doing our best to avoid it as much as possible. | 
