By Becca Gibb
Wireless connections, like a customer support chat, can be a great way to connect people—until it’s not. Under the guise of looking for information about his paycheck, a caller named Brad bullied the customer support rep assigned to the chat to “teach a lesson to the younger generation.” The anonymity made it easy for Brad to feel disconnected from the person he was chatting with, but as the mistreated rep working to solve his problem, I couldn’t help but burst into tears at his unwarranted harassment.
Why does this happen? If Brad and I were having this conversation face-to-face, there would have been frustration, but those specific insults would have never been said. I was a victim of a psychological phenomenon known as dehumanization: the tendency humans have to see another group (other than their own) as an enemy that’s without character or value.
This phenomenon has never felt more real to me than in the past years of my life while I have been attending college. This is a critical time where we experience the brunt of these dehumanizing interactions and choose how we will treat others as we move forward in our lives.
Because of the increase of remote work, wireless dehumanization has become a huge problem and a habit in everyday work-life interactions. This issue needs to be identified, understood, and solved. Through the course of this article I will outline:
- the history of dehumanization
- the psychological reasons and reactions surrounding it
- how to build healthy connections in this dehumanized world.
History of Dehumanization
Bryan Stevenson, a defense lawyer for criminals on death row, has said that “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”¹ Criminals on death row are those whom society has claimed to be the worst of the worst—the enemies. However, Bryan chooses to see those criminals as people with value. As a result of the interaction, the criminals and Bryan both become more human.
Major symbols of this dehumanization are found in events such as the horrific genocides that have occurred throughout history. Figure 1 shows a timeline of notable dehumanization events found in human history.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica provide ample information on the listed events.² They highlight the people involved, the causes, and the results. Even in the Enlightenment and Renaissance periods, records are found of scholars being intrigued by the study of “barbarians” and “savages,” describing them as groups of people with a different culture than these scholars, who refused to give attention or value to. ³
In these historical events, it is interesting to find that the majority group did not believe they were in the wrong. In most circumstances, they believed it was their right. It is concerning that those things we know to be completely immoral today were once deemed acceptable.
Looking at our day, we find examples of wireless dehumanization happening almost every second; this includes emails from frustrated managers, news headlines including words like “criminals” and “illegal immigrants”4, unkind comments from disconnected social media users, and situations like my customer service chat with Brad. Humanization is the choice we can make to see every person with intrinsic value.⁵ Unfortunately, we are seeing an increase of these dehumanization situations in our society today through technology because of our increased reliance upon the immediate wireless connection.
Psychological Reasons and Reactions
Jeffrey Rubin from the New York McGraw Hill Committee, has discovered a psychological phenomenon referred to as the “enemy image.”⁶ These enemy images are usually manifested in situations of contrast: black and white, us and them, rich and poor. When the enemy image occurs, it becomes easy to dehumanize groups of people. Jeffrey identified that there is even the tendency to project your own faults on the enemy.⁷ Because it is difficult to visualize the person on the other end of the wireless connection realistically, the enemy image is an easy psychological position to take. When the enemy image is formed, dehumanization is close to follow.
In a study published on Taylor and Francis Online, 55.3% of college students admitted having been dehumanized online at some point in their life. Of those students in the study, 60% of those reported to experience an increase of depression and anxiety during the rest of the day and sometimes the rest of the week. Over 40% of people also reported experiencing an inability to concentrate and an increase in irritability after the occurrence. Figure 2 shows a visual representation of these staggering percentages.⁸
Because of the technological age in which we live, everyone has become more reliant on technology. Figure 3 is a graphical representation of a study by Pew Research showing the technology that employees believe is vital to completing their job.⁹ Technology has become so commonplace that it is easy for us to slip into s to those on the other end of the connection.
It is extremely important that we notice the issues surrounding a communication method that 61% of employees believe is crucial to their occupation.
One of the greatest dangers of wireless dehumanization is that the “us” does not see the harm they are doing to the “them.” And as a result, no correction is made. Children see their parents harass customer service representatives in a frustrating situation, coworkers see managers slander other coworkers, and college students see their friends laughing as they chastise a service industry worker. This has become habitual. Dehumanization is everywhere: in the news, on the television, and in everyday communication. Because we see it everywhere in society, we assume it is the only way we can get what we want. But in a student population where many of us have held a customer service position, we know that this dehumanization has a huge effect on how we feel about ourselves and how we treat others.
Now what if you are the person being dehumanized? I have had plenty of those experiences myself. All of the information in this article is relevant to you. Remember that dehumanizers are probably just projecting their own faults onto you. And most of all, remember that they are human too. Do not fall into the trap of dehumanization reciprocation. Rise above, remember you’re not alone, and know that if you shed a few tears in the process, it is okay.
Building Healthy Connections
Adam Waytz from Northwestern University has done significant amounts of research on dehumanization in the workplace and how we combat it. He states that “Dehumanization is shockingly commonplace, consequential, and curable.”¹º There is hope, and there is a cure. Based off of Adam Waytz’s research and my own conclusions, there are three ways we can specifically combat this situation.
The first is to take time to unplug. I advise that workplaces require one hour a day in which employees step away from their technology and interact with their coworkers. This time reminds employees that there are real people with value behind these screens and resets their brain from the habitual wireless interactions.
The second is to add as much humanity into our technological experiences as possible. Our world is a wireless, technological one and that is something we cannot and should not attempt to change. However, we can attempt to make that technology more human. One specific suggestion is to turn as many calls as possible into video calls. This allows you to see someone’s face and emotions and to have a human conversation over a wireless connection. If a video call is not available, make sure you know the name of the person you are talking to and introduce yourself. Simply putting a name to a voice can increase your view of humanity.
Lastly, we need to get into the habit of asking questions. One of the key characteristics of humanization is not only the intrinsic value, but acknowledging that others have emotions, experiences, memories, thoughts, and opinions. When we make the effort to ask questions, we can see their point of view and remember that they have valuable thoughts and opinions. Adam Waytz mentioned that when a society takes time to listen to the low-power groups, the whole society will benefit.¹¹ In these situations, the “low-power groups” are those people you cannot see as human. If you take the time to truly listen and engage in a conversation, that interaction and our society will benefit.
Final Message
Lucius Seneca once said that, “Whenever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.”¹² I would add that whenever there is a “send” or “answer” button, there is an opportunity for kindness. This is a world of wireless interactions, and we can make a difference through them. In a world where it has become normalized to dehumanize, we can choose to see the valuable human in every single interaction. As a result, we will change the tide of dehumanization and our world will have a more healthy connection.
Notes
- Bryan Stevenson, “Believe Things You Haven’t Seen,” interview by Francesca Trianni and Carlos Martinelli, Shaping Our Future, TIME, June 22, 2015, audio, 4:11, https://time.com/collection-post/3928285/bryan-stevenson-interview-time 100/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20believe%20that%20each%20person,of% 20the%20Equal%20Justice%20Initiative.
- “Genocide,” Encyclopedia of Britannica, George J. Andreopoulos, last modified on January 14, 2020, ttps://www.britannica.com/topic/genocide
- Paul G. Bain, Jeroen Vaes, and Jacques-Philippe Leyens, Humanness and Dehumanization, (Psychology Press, Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, 2013), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/byu/detail.action? docID=1524164
- Norris McLaughlin, “Illegal Immigrants Arrested in FY 2020 Had Average of Four Criminal Convictions or Charges Each, ICE Says,” The National Law Review, January 7, 2021, https://www.natlawreview.com/article/illegal-immigrants-arrested-fy-2020-had-average-four-criminal-convictions-or-charges
- Nick Haslam, Stephen Loughnan, Catherine Reynolds, and Samuel Wilson, “Dehumanization: A New Perspective,” Wiley Online Library, (November 15, 2007), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-
- 9004.2007.00030.x?casa_token=9tXk86kXj30AAAAA%3Ag_yxpXYA4_XJn9t4Zm9DXeTm8CxpVN6_p2sI2n02p7g9Ei0ErBGb1ydFEM5b6Oy739qJyVRKsS9JIx
- Jeffrey Z. Rubin and Dean G. Pruitt. Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement, 2nd Edition. (New York: McGraw Hill College Division, 1994), 99.
- Rubin, Social Conflict, 99.
- Hyunjoo Na, Barbara L. Dancy, and Chang Parks, “College Student Engaging in Cyberbullying Victimization: Cognitive Appraisals, Coping Strategies, and Psychological Adjustments,” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Volume 29, Issue 3, Science Direct, (2015), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S088394171500 0424
- Kristen Purcell and Lee Rainie, “Technology’s Impact on Workers,” Pew Research Center, December 30, 2014, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/12/30/technologys-impact-on-workers/
- Elizabeth Hopper, “How to Build Connections in a Dehumanized World,” Greater Good Magazine, June 28, 2019, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_build_connectio ns_in_a_dehumanized_world
- P. M. Forni, Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct, (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/253777.Choosing_Civility
