What we’ll lose when we get self-driving cars

Photo credit: Pixabay.

I have no love for the open road.

Although I’m an American, I’ve never taken the quintessential American road trip (you know, the one where you pile into some piece-of-shit car with your friends and drive to the Grand Canyon or wherever). I’ve never really seen the romance in it. Perhaps it’s because I have spent too many hours driving in the car, cursing the traffic and trying to keep myself awake so I can get home safely. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never had a nice enough car to find driving fun. To me, a car is a utility.

Needless to say, I’m excited about the advent of commercially-available self-driving cars (although it’s further off than you think). It seems like a dream come true – if I must sit in traffic, at least with a self-driving car I won’t really have to pay attention. I can just zone out, or get some work done on my phone. It’s going to be great.

It will also mean that I lose something valuable, though.

As technology develops and the world gets more connected, it’s easier to get in touch with people anywhere, at any time of the day. This is a wonderful thing, but it can also be an incredible source of stress. Having email on your mobile phone, for example, means that you can almost never completely disconnect yourself from work. Even when the phone’s in your pocket, you’re just one quick vibration away from your next obligation – and you know full well that when the phone vibrates, you’ll check it.

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Driving is one of the last bastions of solitude in modern life. Even if you find no inherent joy in its practice, it can be a meditative act, or as close as most of us get in the digital age. When I’m driving, I ignore the buzz. I don’t stress about work emails because I can’t answer them. I don’t read texts or answer phone calls. For the duration of my trip, I am free from the stresses and obligations that come with constant connection – not by choice but because I’m driving and I don’t want to die.

Still, studies have shown that this unstimulated downtime has some real, tangible value. For many, smartphones are disrupting the work/life balance, making us feel more burned-out and cynical. They’re also making us feel more jealous and lonelier.

Moreover, disconnecting from the the web every now and then does wonders for your brain, even if you find it boring. Studies have shown that we’re at our most creative after being bored, suggesting that our brains need that stimulation-free downtime to produce our best ideas. This is why so many good ideas come to us in the shower – you can’t shower with your phone, so you’re forced to disconnect for a bit and let your brain idle.

When human driving goes, so too will go the reflective solitude of the road.

Few of us would ever be willing to permanently disconnect from the mobile web, of course. And even if you wanted to, it’s not really possible while still living a “normal” life these days. Your boss, your friends, and your family, all expect you to be available at the touch of a button. Except when you’re driving (and when you’re in the shower, which thankfully isn’t going to change). Self-driving cars will be great, but they will mean that many of us are available even more often.

This doesn’t have to be true. In theory we could choose to ignore our mobiles while on the road and keep our driving time meditative. But I won’t do that, and you won’t either. Most of us are terrible at disconnecting voluntarily, and that’s not going to get any better as more and more aspects of our lives get mobile integration.