[disqard]

> and there's something nice about not having to interact with a real person

This is the end-goal, I guess? Not just avoiding a taxi/Uber driver, but avoiding as much human interaction as possible.

Is it surprising that technology is (collectively) being evolved to isolate humans from each other?

AFAICT, we can't have our cake and eat it too -- a completely frictionless life is a zero human-interaction life, which would be very sad.

Edit: I fall into this trap too, but I'm aware that every time I choose convenience over friction, I'm losing a tiny bit of my Human-ness.

[superfrank]

I don't mind interacting with people, but the vast majority of my interactions with ride share drivers are not meaningful interactions. I get in the car, say "hi" and then pull out my phone. A large portion of the time my drivers are on the phone or have airpods in.

I would gladly trade the 1% of rides where I had a decent conversation with the driver to remove the 99% where I we both try to make forced small talk or we both awkwardly sit in silence. Plus, not having to worry about me and my friends annoying our driver when we're drunkly coming back from the bars at 2am is such a win.