Somewhere along the way, we decided talking to each other was optional. Banks, utility companies, hotels, restaurants, even customers - everyone seems determined to funnel us into automated systems, chatbots, or faceless email threads. And to be honest, it’s rubbish. The world has become obsessed with 'efficiency,' but in the process, we’ve squeezed out the one thing that actually makes things efficient: meaningful human communication.

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I’ve always believed that most problems are solved faster, smoother, and with far fewer misunderstandings when two people simply speak to each other. A real conversation, tone, nuance, empathy, cuts through ambiguity and builds trust. Yet increasingly, picking up the phone or asking to speak to a person feels like a radical act.

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Take our recent holiday in Mallorca. We regularly return to the same hotel and genuinely love the place. After this trip, we had some constructive feedback, not a complaint, but insights that would genuinely help them improve. So I asked for a manager to give me a quick call. Five minutes, job done. But no. 'Please email.' And there it is: the formality, the distance, the sense that your words are being filed rather than understood. The irony? A quick conversation would have been easier for everyone involved.

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This isn’t unique to hospitality. Have you ever tried speaking to SKY? Or a bank? Or a utility company during an emergency? You navigate layers of menus, chat with bots that pretend to understand you, and eventually land on an email address that promises a response within 72 hours. We’ve replaced personal service with digital labyrinths, and we dare to call it progress.

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But humans still crave humans. We want reassurance. We want clarity. We want the ability to say, “Here’s what I mean,” and hear, “Got it, let’s get it sorted.” And businesses who forget this are quietly losing loyalty, trust, and connection.

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Interestingly, I recently explored adding a chatbot to my own website. After all, it’s the thing to do, isn’t it? Everyone seems to have one: the little box in the corner that pops up and asks, “How can I help?” before sending you in circles. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I’d be contributing to the very thing that frustrates me. So I decided against it. If someone has a question, they can call me. I promise I’m a friendly chap, and more importantly, a real one.

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This isn’t a crusade against technology. Automation has its place. But it should support human connection, not replace it. There’s a profound difference between using tools to become more efficient and using them to avoid people altogether.

 

Maybe it’s time we reclaimed the dying art of conversing. Pick up the phone. Invite a conversation. Be reachable. Be human.

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Let’s keep it alive.

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- Antony Penny