{"id":11035,"date":"2023-06-06T11:33:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=11035"},"modified":"2023-06-06T11:33:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:33:01","slug":"love-shouldnt-hurt-ever-115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=11035","title":{"rendered":"Love shouldn\u2019t hurt – ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the little things<\/strong>
\nIf you pay attention to the news at all, I am sure you have heard about all the advances being made in Artificial Intelligence (AI). If not, you may ask what is AI? Artificial intelligence uses computers and machines to simulate the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind. These machines can be trained to solve specific problems or perform tasks that normally would use a human. If you use a cell phone, you probably are familiar with Siri or Alexa, which are powered by AI. Caltech tells us to get ready to see more and more AI as it is being utilized in areas such as medicine, transportation, robotics, science, education, the military, surveillance, financial institutions, agriculture, entertainment, retail, customer service, and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Sounds exciting, doesn\u2019t it? Having AI instead of human interactions should make things run more smoothly and quickly. There will be no bad attitudes, nobody calling in sick, more than likely no mistakes on orders. Someone recently commented on going to a Starbucks and a McDonald\u2019s where it was fully automated. No human interaction at all. You have a screen, you push the buttons to order what you want exactly how you want it, insert your card and pay and voila, your order is prepared and off you go. No fuss, no muss, no wait, no mistakes. Sounds good? Wait, thinking of all the repercussions, does it really?<\/p>\n

What about the value of the human touch and human interaction? Neuroscientists concur that our brains and minds are shaped in continuous interaction with other people. Psychologist Susan Pinker states that \u201cdirect person-to-person contact triggers parts of our nervous system that release a \u201ccocktail\u201d of neurotransmitters tasked with regulating our response to stress and anxiety making you better equipped to change.\u201d\u00a0 Building positive relationships with people can make a difference in how resilient you are. Resilience is needed in many areas, such as difficult tasks on the job, interpersonal relationships, surviving traumatic events, and starting over when necessary.<\/p>\n

Twenty years from now, as we look back, will we realize the little things that we may have thought were disposable were really important after all? Think about everyday interactions \u2013 smiles, a shared laugh, a word of encouragement, someone noticing you are struggling \u2013 the little things that are actually pretty important. What about the times someone noticed another in a precarious situation and stepped in to assist? Through human interaction we learn a lot – the realization that people are imperfect and that\u2019s okay and we don\u2019t have to hold ourselves to a standard of perfection, the lesson we learn of patience and understanding if someone makes a mistake – learning how to forgive. Those small things are really important in the big picture of life.<\/p>\n

Our lockdown time with COVID was kind of a reset for many. Since then it seems there has been a resurgence in the desire to be self-reliant and to learn the \u201cold\u201d ways of doing things. There\u2019s just something special about things that are made by human hands. I am a quilter. I can tell you that a quilt you buy from a store that was made on an assembly line in a factory by textile machines is nowhere near as appealing as one made by hand in someone\u2019s home, one at a time. There is a totally different look and feel to it and a different value. Think about your grandma\u2019s apple pie or a loaf of homemade bread. You can go to a store and purchase an apple pie or bread. They all look the same and taste the same. Put it up against your grandma\u2019s pie or bread and there is no comparison. What about the great satisfaction you get from growing your own food in a home garden, not to mention the taste is much better than commercially grown food too. Things that are made with a personal touch just feel different. Yes, with humans there are errors and flaws, but that\u2019s also part of the charm.<\/p>\n

As we venture more and more into the AI world, it\u2019s important to make sure we don\u2019t isolate ourselves from other people. When you find yourself needing support and encouragement during a hard time in life, AI isn\u2019t going to be able to provide the human touch that your friends can. AI can provide all the facts you will ever need; however, it can\u2019t provide the personal emotional support we all need from time to time.<\/p>\n

As we talk about the need for human interactions, I want to remind you that Crisis Services of North Alabama offers free support groups and crisis counseling, along with other services, for those who are dealing with intimate partner violence or sexual assault. Reach out today by calling our office for an appointment at 256.574.5826. We also offer a 24\/7 HELPline at 256.716.1000 where you can speak with a crisis counselor. You are not alone.<\/p>\n

-Teresia Smith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the little things If you pay attention to the news at all, I am sure you have heard about all the advances being made in Artificial Intelligence (AI). If not, you may ask what is AI? Artificial intelligence uses computers and machines to simulate the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love-shouldnt-hurt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11036,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035\/revisions\/11036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}