What Technology Takes From Us – And How To Take It Back
By Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian, January 29, 2026
In an era dominated by artificial intelligence and Silicon Valley’s relentless drive for efficiency, convenience, and profitability, society faces a profound disconnection from the very fabric of human experience. Rebecca Solnit’s recent essay, published in The Guardian, explores what technology is taking from us—not just in terms of lost activities, but in the erosion of connection, presence, and the richness of life.
The Lost Art of Doing
Solnit begins with a personal reflection on summers spent wading into a creek, picking blackberries from thorny bushes. The experience was more than the act of gathering fruit; it was a deep immersion in nature, in the moment, engaging all senses—the colors of berries changing from green to dark purple, the sounds of birds and bees, the feel of cool water. This activity, she reflects, gave her more than produce—it offered tranquility, a connection to the natural world, and a sense of pride in doing something herself.
This story illustrates what environmentalist Chip Ward termed “the tyranny of the quantifiable.” The obsession with measuring outcomes—how much fruit is picked per hour, or the monetary value of a harvest—misses the value of the process itself. Growing tomatoes, dancing, dog-walking, and countless other activities enrich us not solely for what they produce but for engagement, presence, and the joy of embodied experience.
Yet, as technology advances, society increasingly adopts an ideology rooted in maximizing "having" while minimizing "doing." This approach, long a tenet of capitalism, has become Silicon Valley’s mantra, convincing us to outsource decisions, interactions, and even thinking itself to machines.
Silicon Valley’s Tyranny: Efficiency Over Connection
Silicon Valley’s leaders have long promoted convenience, productivity, and efficiency, often at the cost of human connection and community. The message is clear: going out into the world is inconvenient and inefficient, so it is better to stay home, work more, and remain connected only through screens.
This shift has replaced many everyday interactions—buying groceries, chatting with a store clerk, running errands—with impersonal online transactions. Such changes might seem small, but collectively, they have eroded public life and the social fabric of neighborhoods, leaving behind alienation and isolation.
Solnit stresses that these casual, even mundane, interactions matter tremendously. They create familiarity with others and our environments, support democratic engagement by fostering understanding of difference, and build networks of relationships vital to community life. The retreat into digital convenience, although praised as progress, has weakened these bonds, leaving many feeling disconnected.
The Consequences of Withdrawal
As people withdraw from unmediated social contact, a paradox arises. On one hand, there is a yearning for genuine connection; on the other, a reduced ability to cope with real social interaction. Over time, isolation can breed aversion, numbness, or unrealistic expectations about human relationships.
A telling example comes from Solnit’s visit to a San Francisco Indian restaurant that replaced human order-takers with touchscreen kiosks. The new system imposed difficulties, especially for elderly customers, and removed moments of social contact between servers and patrons. She wonders if such technological replacements increase social avoidance rather than ease it, a concern echoed by other experiences in tech-heavy locales.
Even a bookstore encounter pointed to this trend. Younger customers, mostly tech workers, often avoid simple social cues like eye contact. The bookstore employee expressed gratitude for any interaction beyond minimal transaction—a rare occurrence in a technology-saturated culture.
The Decline of Independent Thought and Solitude
Beyond social disconnection, Silicon Valley’s narrative now encroaches on the domain of personal cognition. Companies market AI products that promise users they “will never think alone again,” encouraging outsourcing of thinking and creativity to machines. This shift threatens the development of independent thought and the essential ability to spend quiet time with oneself.
Solnit references sociologist Sherry Turkle’s observations that screen time diminishes children’s and adults’ capacity for solitude—a fundamental condition for empathy, creativity, and self-reflection. Without solitary time, the ability to engage deeply with ideas or develop emotional intelligence deteriorates.
Reclaiming Our Lives from Technology
Solnit’s essay is ultimately a call to action—a defense of the experiences and capacities that technology tends to overlook or devalue. It challenges us to reclaim the processes and pleasures of doing, to foster genuine human contact, to nurture our capacity for solitude, and to resist the ideology that equates efficiency with progress.
The antidote requires collective effort: supporting public spaces, valuing local institutions, fostering social encounters, and recognizing that life is not only about consumption but about engagement, presence, and connection.
The future need not be one where AI and technology render human experience hollow or oversimplified. Instead, by consciously balancing technological convenience with embodied living, we can take back what technology has taken from us—our connections, our resilience, and ultimately, our humanity.
