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Interpersonal dialogue no longer exists (perhaps due to lack of sufficient introspection).

Among the many consequences of the current pandemic is the acceleration of the adoption and use of virtual meeting platforms by people who before the pandemic used practically no technology. The purpose, it has been said, is to foster dialogue between people when face-to-face meetings are not possible or desirable.

But that desired dialogue no longer exists. Its increasing non-existence is not due to the fact that in videoconferencing people are reduced to small squares on the screen or because the level of participation is limited both by the technology in use (which is often unidirectional) and by the options that technology offers not to participate.

The non-existence of dialogue is due to the fact that before the dialogue begins the alleged interlocutors have already decided not to listen to each other and, therefore, nothing that is said is relevant to the other.

In that way, the dialogue is no longer even a succession of alternating monologues, but rather a cacophonic overlay of sounds uttered by narcissists (whether they admit it or not), unable to open their minds and hearts to others or to themselves.

Recently, for example, I filled out an online order for a certain restaurant, and at the appointed time, it went to get the food. Behind the counter, a young lady (probably still in high school) asked for my name, and I gave it to her. She immediately told me that I had probably ordered from another restaurant.

I said “No” and emphasized that I had ordered the food at the restaurant where we were. She then told me that I had probably ordered from the same restaurant chain, but elsewhere. I said “No” and showed her the order confirmation message, stating that I was in the right place.

She then told me that the request was made over the phone and that it had not been processed. I showed her once more that the order had been placed online and that it was confirmed. The young woman told me that she could not help me because she did not understand what was happening and called someone else to help me.

This second person, also very young, asked me exactly the same questions. My answers were obviously the same. And then, unable to help me, the second person went to call a third one and then a fourth one came and finally a fifth one. None of those five people accepted that the order had been made online and without errors. 

When everything seemed useless and my frustration was almost uncontrollable, the supervisor of the place arrived, asked me to see the confirmation number, turned around, said "Francisco?", I said "Yes", and he immediately gave me the food, which it had been there the whole time.

One more thing: these young people, so incapable of dialogue because they are locked inside their virtual echo chambers, are the ones who represent the future of humanity and the planet. 

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