Computers are awesome. They do exactly what we say, we can put them together, and they can perform immense calculations that would take hours for the best mathematicians. We live in a generation where families give their children iPads at restaurants to keep them quiet. We have a metaphorical umbilical cord to technology and everyone is connected in every way possible. Sounds great right?

Yeah, until you realize that computers have quickly been taking over service industry jobs that can go to people. Over the summer, I had the fortune of being able to stay in Washington D.C. for two months. Nothing killed the nostalgia of seeing the legacy of our Founding Fathers than going into a CVS and having to use an automated checkout system to buy my goods. Yup, CVS not only has a monopoly in D.C. (I saw one Rite-Aid while I was down there!), but they only have 2-3 employees on staff at any given hour. One employee manages a register for cigarette orders (to check ID—ha computers!) and the other watches the door to make sure everyone has paid for the goods. Other than that, all transactions are handled by the machines and self-served by the humans. Is it more convenient? Maybe, but oftentimes the machines also mess up with baggage stipulations and misidentifying bar codes.

We see this in other places too! How many of you have walked into a train station in the city to see that the MetroCard machines had a stipulation (SINGLE RIDES ONLY!) that prevented you from commuting? Usually (due to Murphy’s Law) this happens in the stations where an MTA employee booth is unavailable. Or how about “Room Service Robots” which take up the jobs of hotel employees (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgFlbQLslL0). Or let’s take into account e-mail and text message, which now requires many workers to be on call 24/7 with barely any time to relax!

So yeah, computers are great, but with great power comes great responsibility—responsibility that we’re misusing as a culture. Technology is speeding up life and making it more efficient, but to what cost? At what point to computers start to negatively affect jobs (if they haven’t already) and make our fast-paced lives even more hectic? Computer revolution? Maybe, but maybe not in the way that we’re thinking of.