Let me speak to a person!

This may sound drastic, but automated phone systems resemble a society without human connection, and offer a despairing glimpse of where we’re heading.

We’ve all been there, on hold, listening to the most banal music, that feels like it was purposefully designed in a lab, trying to complete some of life’s most boring chores, and the call drops.

For some it induces rage beyond words, but there’s something else too, the frustration of knowing it could all be so simple if you were talking to another human.

All of life’s most stressful dealings – your bank, your housing, phone, energy and water provider, can only be contacted by speaking to a robot at the end of the phone, or a chatbot on your laptop.

Nowhere does this rankle more than in public services, with typically underfunded departments.

But since Covid, things have really taken a turn – the necessity to work from home in those years created an even stronger reliance on phones and automated networks, and those who rely on council services are just plain giving up trying to contact them.

Maybe that’s the point. Our coverage of a tree that crashed into homes in Lewisham on Saturday evening (p4) highlights this exact experience.

The homeowner, whose roof was damaged and windows broken, contacted the council and was pushed from pillar to post, desperately trying to speak to someone about the situation and see that her home was made secure.

A combination of automated phone systems, answering machines and communication breakdowns at Lewisham council saw the homeowner only speak to a human on the phone on Wednesday afternoon.

If the phone systems for every important facet of life continue to be automated and ineffective, it’s going to be an incredibly frustrating future.

Let me speak to a person!

THE SPIRIT OF LONDON
The South London Press