“No way.”

I stood there frozen as my colleague continued walking through the subway station. He had just enlightened me that you no longer needed to have a metro card to take a train in NYC. You can simply touch your phone (electronic pay wallet vibes) to the electronic reader or tap your physical credit/debit card to the reader and it will take your payment. Instantly.

Some you you are probably reading this and saying, “Yeah, DUH. It’s been that way for a long time.” Fine. Heard. But, I haven’t lived in NYC for a decade and I tend to take Ubers and taxis when I got there for work, so I didn’t get the freakin’ memo. Forgetting your MetroCard after you'd already reached the subway was a genuinely traumatic experience – you'd be stuck, forced to spend more money just to buy another card. So, while tapping your phone to pay isn't exactly groundbreaking technology, the fact that you no longer need a MetroCard at all? That’s WILD.

The point is - the technological world is moving at light speed and for the first time ever, it’s freaking me out a lil’ bit. I love all the things that make our life simpler and I am fully engrossed and soaking in as much AI learning as possible right now, but man there is just something about actual pieces of paper, solid objects in my hand, trust in a handshake, and security in a double-walled bank safe.

I’m nostalgic, in all the ways, and sometimes I think I was born in the wrong generation. Like I want to lug about my books with a belt, I want to pack a steel lunchbox and take it to work. I even want to put on a floor length dress and pop up onto a horse-drawn carriage to get where I need to go. (And yes, living in Lancaster County, PA - I have that last one basically at my fingertips). I mean isn’t there something so thrilling about walking to school - in the snow - uphill -both ways?!

I think at the depths of all these thoughts is one thing: the process. The feelings you feel when something is more cumbersome, lengthier, or dangerous. Have I tapped into something here? I’m seriously writing this live and it has just hit me that the further everything in our lives get away from each other, the more we want each other. Tale as old as time really - absence makes the heart grow fonder. Look at all of humanity after the floodgates opened fully in 2022 and no one was scared anymore. Concerts - packed. Restaurants - full. Airlines - overbooked. Parks for goodness sakes - brimming.

SO, the more we integrate AI and digital shortcuts into our lives and human connections, the more we will eventually long for one another again. You see, eventually, we’ll all crave the original network. Because truly connecting? There's no shortcut for that.