Technology is changing nearly everything around us, and for the most part, I welcome it. I use technology every day for research, market analysis, property information, communication, development, and understanding different viewpoints. The amount of information available to us today is incredible, and I believe we are only beginning to understand what these tools will eventually be capable of doing. But there is one thing I do not believe technology will ever permanently replace, and that is human connection.
We are already beginning to see some interesting evidence. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that major fast food companies are putting renewed focus on human interaction after years of investing heavily in digital kiosks, mobile ordering, and automation. Apparently, a lot of people still appreciate walking up to a counter, being greeted by another person, and having someone simply take their order in a friendly way. Think about that for a minute. We spent millions developing technology designed to remove people from a basic transaction, only to discover that sometimes the person was part of what made the transaction enjoyable in the first place.
Want more proof? Look at the music industry. Not that long ago, there was enormous concern about streaming music and what it would mean for artists, record sales, and royalties. Today, we can listen to nearly any artist imaginable instantly, with incredible sound quality. We can watch performances on enormous 4K televisions from a perfectly climate controlled home, sitting on our favorite sectional with our own refrigerator and private bathroom only a few steps away. Yet millions of us still choose something entirely different.
We pay hundreds of dollars for concert tickets. We pay for parking. We stand in lines. We buy expensive food and drinks. We sit shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers, and sometimes the sound is not even perfect. Why? Because we are not really buying the music. We are buying the experience. We want to be there when it happens. We want to hear the crowd, sing along, laugh, take it all in, and create a memory that years later starts with, “Remember when we saw them live?” That experience is hard to duplicate from the sectional, no matter how good the technology gets.
I believe the same principle applies to many professions, including real estate. Technology can help us analyze thousands of properties, organize data, identify trends, research neighborhoods, evaluate pricing, prepare documents, improve communication, and give consumers access to more information than any generation before us. Those are tremendous advantages, and I intend to use them. But buying or selling a home is not simply a data transaction. There are conversations around kitchen tables. There are difficult decisions between spouses. There are children changing schools, estates being settled, divorces, job transfers, first homes, retirement homes, investment decisions, financial challenges, celebrations, and sometimes heartbreak. A computer can analyze the transaction. A human being understands what the transaction means.
I believe the professionals who succeed in the next generation will not be the ones who reject technology. They will be the ones who learn how to use it extremely well while becoming even better at the things technology cannot duplicate. Listening, understanding, negotiating, reading a room, building trust, showing empathy, giving someone confidence when an important decision becomes difficult, and simply being there will continue to matter.
There is another part of this technology revolution that will be fascinating to watch. We have heard enormous promises about what automation and artificial intelligence will eventually accomplish. As the technology becomes fully developed, we will also begin to understand its true cost, its limitations, and where consumers actually want it. Some industries will automate aggressively. Others may discover that customers still place tremendous value on dealing with another person.
My belief is that the future is not going to be humans versus technology. It will be great people using great technology. Technology should make us more informed, more efficient, and better prepared to serve people. It should remove unnecessary work and give us more time for the part that matters most, the human part.
Long after the screen goes dark and today’s newest technology has been replaced by something even newer, people will continue looking for experiences, relationships, conversations, and memories. Human connection has survived every major advancement in technology so far, and I believe it always will.
Tony & Sophie Reece
4You Real Estate
Experience driven. Client focused.
