Uber- The New Human Nature

Poor treatment of people is an everyone problem.
Our on-demand lifestyle has developed an unintended negative shift in society.
The very products and software designed to bring us together have been used desensitized us on a subconscious level.
Let us not forget that these platforms and products are just tools.
We can use the same tools to bring the connection back.


How to bring the human I-Thou connection back:

Uber was started with so much character. 

Regular people, driving regular people.

How quickly we separate ourselves.

On a recent trip to Manhattan, I Ubered everywhere.

Everyone does. 

After my third ride with an Uber driver, I decided to comment on the energy I was picking up.

The Uber driver seems scared. 

I started the conversation by saying I think there is a problem with how Uber drivers are treated.

A confused look came onto Miguel (the Uber drivers face) 

A face that asked-- why would you care?

I sent an understanding smile back to the reflection of his eyes in the rearview mirror. 

I saw the tension in his shoulders release. 
I became an individual in that moment because I made him feel like an individual first.

He took a deep breath indicating non-verbally that he felt safe to talk freely.

And he was right. 
I cared and he needed to talk to someone who is typically in the position to control his job security.
In short, he needed to feel acknowledged for enduring something.

Here is what I learned...

Uber drivers in Manhattan have to maintain a very high rating to keep their Uber license.

4.7 out of 5.0 is the bare minimum before The Uber of Oz tells you to hit the road-passenger-less.

He told me about the one bad review he received and why.  
He told me about the typical interaction.
I ask him questions and he answered them all freely. 
I told him that anyone who treats a stranger rudely is not doing so with the intent of inflicting a deeply personal attack.
After all, how could they?
We have to know someone deeply to reject them.
The rudeness is because of a lack of personal interaction.
I told him that in all cases rejection is nothing more than a story.
We should all consider rejection a fictional story and let it go.

People treating others like inhuman commodities is not just an Uber problem.
We are Uber.

Poor treatment of other people is an everyone problem.
Our on-demand lifestyle has developed an unintended negative shift in society.
The very products and software designed to bring us together have desensitized us on a subconscious level.

Here is the good news...

We do not have to be subconsciously rude. 
Nothing may enter your subconscious if you make a determined and deliberate effort to stop a negative thought. 

How to start

It is simple.
And it comes down to exactly these 7 steps.

1. Pay attention to your thoughts as you have them.

2. Change your thinking about other people when you catch yourself about to speak down or at someone.

3. Wake yourself up by saying out loud-- wake up!

4. Practice this method by not driving like there is only a car you are behind     (or in if you are Ubering).

5. Practice by imagining your mother or grandmother in the car you are mindlessly tailgating. Think of her face frightened. 

6. When you have the hang of this, reach back in and pull someone else out of this dormant negative subconscious slumber.

7. Repeat until you feel it.

#strikeamatch