PSYCHOLOGY TODAY | In the age of AI and automation, many companies are advertising the promise of the “frictionless customer experience.” 

Retailers argue that robotic checkout counters and AI-bot customer service agents remove the “friction” of everyday life—the dramas, delays, and miscommunications that come with having to interact with other human beings. 

But here’s a question I’ve been pondering: 

What if ‘friction’ is the point? 
What if messy, inefficient, inconvenient social interactions are a necessary condition for leading a meaningful life? 

In her latest article for Psychology Today, Kim Samuel makes the case that, in the age of AI, we should embrace what many marketers derisively call “friction.” 

READ.