Is human contact in the digital age a scarce luxury good?

As human contact becomes rarer across various service sectors, is it starting to resemble a rare luxury that only the rich can afford?

In a seminar held by Dr Claudia Civai, Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Behavioural Economics) at City St George’s, University of London, in October, this question was discussed at length as Dr Civai presented her research on the growing value of human contact in an increasingly digital world.

In the talk, Dr Civai discussed how she has been exploring how digitalisation, while beneficial, might be turning human interaction into a scarce luxury good. This research – which was funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme small research grant as well as an internal grant from London South Bank University, and recently published as a pre-print – suggests that as human contact becomes rarer across various service sectors, people are willing to pay more for it, particularly those with higher incomes. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr Elisa Carrus and Yasmeen Skelton at London South Bank University, and Dr Marta Caserotti at the University of Padua (Italy).

Valuable contact

The study in question involved four pre-registered online experiments with 3,521 participants from the UK and Italy. It examined how people valued services across four domains: education, finance, mental health, and fitness. Participants were presented with two options for each service—one that involved human contact, such as face-to-face counselling, and another that was fully digital, like an app-based fitness programme.

“We wondered whether, by focusing on the benefits of digitalisation, something might be overlooked,” Dr Civai explained during the seminar, highlighting the motivation behind the research. "Human contact might be becoming scarcer and, in effect, a luxury good."

The study revealed that participants consistently valued human contact more than digital services and were willing to pay a higher price for it. This preference was most pronounced in financial services, where participants were particularly inclined to pay more for in-person advice from a financial advisor than for recommendations from a digital app. Furthermore, wealthier participants were found to be more willing to pay for human contact services, reinforcing the notion that human interaction could become a privilege for the affluent.

Scarcity of human contact

One key aspect of the research was its exploration of the scarcity of human contact. In one experiment, participants were asked to reflect on recent experiences where they struggled due to a lack of human interaction. The findings showed that when participants were nudged to think about human contact as scarce, they became even more willing to pay for services involving direct human interaction.

"We tested whether people would pay more if they perceived human contact to be scarce," Dr Civai said, summarising the results. "We did find a significant effect—those reminded of the scarcity of human contact valued it more and were willing to pay a higher price."

Interestingly, this trend was observed across both UK and Italian participants, though some cultural differences emerged. In Italy, participants were generally more willing to pay for digital services compared to those in the UK, possibly due to lower digital literacy levels in Italy. Dr Civai noted: "The Italian sample, compared to the UK one, reported lower scores on a digitalisation index that captured both accessibility to and competence of digital tools; this may suggest that, in Italy, people have less experience with digital tools,  so they might value digital services more highly, while UK participants, who are more familiar with digitalisation, tend to prefer human contact."

Psychological effects

Overall, the study’s results raise important questions about the future of human interaction in professional services. "What happens when human contact becomes something only the wealthy can afford?" Dr Civai asked during the seminar. Her research suggests that as digital tools continue to dominate, the scarcity of human interaction could deepen socio-economic divides. Wealthier individuals, who are more willing and able to pay for human services, may increasingly have access to this 'luxury' while others are left with impersonal, automated alternatives.

Dr Civai's work highlights the importance of further investigation into the impact of digitalisation on human interaction. As she pointed out, "We know that digitalisation helps—it has enabled participation by removing logistical challenges. But we need to consider whether we are losing something valuable in the process."

Her findings emphasise that the increasing rarity of human contact, while efficient for some industries, might have broader implications for social equality and cognitive well-being. As services become more automated, Dr Civai’s research suggests that human contact may become a highly sought-after commodity—a scarce luxury in the digital age.