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# Choose the human line
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/baton-rouge-human-interaction-technology-community/
- Published: 2026-10-02T02:53:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T02:53:33.000Z
- Author: JR Ball
- Tags: News

Call me old-fashioned, but I hate self-checkout at the grocery store. I get why profit-loving businesses love them, but for me it's a tedious pain. Which explains why my grocery runs are timed to when an actual human is standing sentry at the register. On Sunday at the Neighborhood Walmart, I started chit-chatting with the cashier, who, bless her, was a fount of personality. Nothing important was discussed; we solved no problems, but it was a wonderful one-off interlude of laughter and two minutes of human interaction.

I walked out $181 lighter, but with a smile on my face.

Turns out there's research behind that feeling.

Psychologists [tested this](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550613502990?ref=redeyebr.com) with coffee. People who smiled, made eye contact and chatted briefly with a barista left in a better mood than people who kept the transaction as efficient as possible. The likely reason: a sense of belonging.

Another study put [commuters](https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/jschroeder/Publications/Epley&Schroeder2014.pdf?ref=redeyebr.com) on trains and buses. Some were told to talk to a stranger. Others were told to sit in silence. Separate groups of commuters predicted silence would make for a better ride. They were wrong. The talkers enjoyed the trip more and got just as much done.

Journalist Gabe Bullard makes the bigger case in a [new book](https://bookshop.org/p/books/against-convenience-embracing-friction-in-an-age-of-endless-ease-gabe-bullard/1e5ab524a5574880?ref=redeyebr.com) on convenience culture. Many modern conveniences work by helping us skip other people. Delivery lets us eat whatever we want, alone, away from the friction of the real world. Bullard isn't anti-technology. His point is that technology should work for us, not the other way around.

It's the same idea behind the [front yard movement](https://www.redeyebr.com/front-yards-front-porches/). One helps you better know your neighbors. The other helps you better know your community.

This isn't about giving up your phone. Just choose the human line in life every once in a while. Say hello to the cashier. Talk to the person next to you in the pickup line.

It's the kind of old-fashioned that might give Baton Rouge a better future.

*—JR Ball*