STRESS and Artificial Intelligence

Author: Rekha Gupta

To all those who are surprised by the title and wondering about the connection, will have to read the whole article.😉😄 And don’t worry, this article is a short one 😅.

The other day my daughter returned home from buying simple groceries  and was nearly in tears, Apparently the cashier (a lady) was extremely rude to her. I told her she must be having a bad day, and tried to cheer her up, by reasoning out with her, but my daughter’s day was ruined and actually for 2 full days. Such was the impact of such a small interaction that lasted an equally small duration. Well in our times, we used to be that stressed only when a close friend or relative would give a hurtful statement. And of late I have been wondering whether- our threshold of endurance has  gone down or have people generally around us become rude/irritated/anxious and hence all the time STRESSED. This is a new word is’nt it? Pretty recent, maybe 10-15 years old tops. The older word for it was “ tension”. 😝 jokes apart this stress word has taken alarming proportions and a toll on people’s health.  😐 C@Rg

To all those who have stress, genuine, hyped, or because its like a bug in the air, you really need to identify what stress really is or at least the trigger of it, the real culprit of stress.

Is it that one has too much work, but less time?

Are there submission deadlines?

Work deadlines to boss?

Exams pressure

Money problems?EMIs

Relationship problems

All the above are not problems in themselves , if one was to think deeply and logically. , you would realise the following:-

You have either taken upon yourself more than what you can handle? Or Exams pressure is self created/peer created/parent created/society created. You are stressing yourself out for a result which is not even out yet, which may not effect your life in a big way, but may disappoint or please people around you. Think about it? Doesn’t it sound superficial., and totally not worth it. C@Rg

Think of a major office project to be completed within a certain time , a short time as always! But now think of a boss who is ruthless and is always yelling at you. Stress automatically creeps in. You already hate the project and the effort seems a problem, suddenly your whole life seems a problem. C@Rg

Now picture a nice leader, who assigns tasks, but is happy and wants a happy outcome, is very confident and happy that the project will be completed on time. Infact He treats the project as any normal job and is nice to all of you all the time .Now do you feel stress? The answer is obviously No.

Isn’t it safe to deduce that Stress is actually and invariably generated by someone’s energy. That is one thing which is certain.  So when we talk of negative energy, it could means someones fear, panic, inability to handle something,anger, jealousy, unhappiness etc  hence they become rude, irritated and anxious and pass on a huge part of their energy to us and unknowingly we become stressed. Even more so when it comes from a loved one, close friend and in todays time, transactional interactions with people cause us stress.

My close friend very  casually and innocuously said that this quarantine has been very good for her at least if not anyone else and her reason :”as I am interacting with with less people at work and hence I have almost zilch stress”.

Harmless statement but so –so grim. This is what has become of US, collectively. Passing on our stress to each other and all living in unhappy times.  This is not what was supposed to be of our society.

So stress is actually and sadly been created by our own negative energies, floating around us all the time. Sometimes we catch it, sometimes we don’t.

Its not the job/studies/relationships by themselves that are stressful,(that we can tackle) but energies of people associated with it. As much as we say that our happiness is in our hands , we do end up getting stressed and sad by other people’s energy.

There are many articles of mine where I have mentioned how we can curb this at our own individual level. Each single person can make a difference. If you can manage your emotions and your energy, you have more or less handled your family at least. You are sure to create a happy atmosphere at home. If you leave house you will only give good energy to others, and hopefully in turn they may pass this along. A single person cannot change the entire universe energy single handedly but can at do his own bit and that only will make a mammoth difference.C@Rg

People need to realise that this is a recent phenomena created recently and if we have all created it, we can all eliminate it too.

Now for the connection between AI and Stress😎(No I haven’t forgotten 😁) Recently I saw a Sci- Fi series , set in 2040, where much of human interaction was absent and there were self driven cars to robots at grocery stores etc etc.(we already have self driven cars, automated immigration counters at airports ) Just imagine an alexa or siri catering to now almost of  your needs at various points in addition to google maps and other small jobs at home. For some this may seem really unreal and scary , for others a very close possibility around the corner. C@Rg

Either ways people seemed happier and relaxed in this fictional series devoid of any negative emotions, but at the same time ,no positive ones either.They were interacting only with closest of closest inner circle of people. Even though the intention of AI is not this, invariably & unknowingly it will reduce human interaction as well and people will seem to have no problem with it. (as by then they would have become so fed up of all negative energies, this would be a welcome change) . Already at work people prefer email correspondences and whats app chats more than talking directly? Why is this shift coming about.

Are we headed to this society. Do we really need AI to remove all the cacophony of negative emotions around us. We can do better than this no? Though to ruminate over and much to do about it!!

What seems too big today shall anyways be insignificant and trivial tomorrow then why to mull and fret over anything and spoil the present? Life is meant to be lived communicating in peace and joy .What really people need to do is make their foundation and inner core strong.

Wishing you all a relaxed day and weekend and life ahead!!

Author Rekha Gupta