"Are you ready for your massage?"
I love stopping by places like Brookstone whenever I go to the mall because I get the chance to sit in one of those nifty massage chairs for free. If I’m lucky, the chair will find the areas in my neck and back that even most of my massage therapists can’t seem to access. If I’m not so lucky, the rumbling heat being sent up my back will still induce relaxation. It’s a win-win situation.
Robots are getting so high-tech these days that they’ve begun to replace humans, but I’m not too concerned that massage therapists will end up needing to switch careers. Even when I read stories like this one, I think, “Wow! Technology is amazing!” but I can’t say I ever really worry that my position will be filled in by something that runs on batteries and sleeps in a closet.
Humans will always need each other because there can never be such a thing as synthetic genuine touch.
When I accidentally smack my foot into a door, one of the first things I do (after I scream a couple of expletives) is I grab my foot with my hands to soothe my injury. That instinct is not unique to me. All humans do it because it causes the pain to subside. Touching the pain and rubbing or pressing it will stimulate other nerve fibers and cause the spinal cord and brain to “forget” about the painful nerves. But could I really imagine just grabbing a spoon to do the work of my hands?
No.
There’s something lovely about the heat of hands, the feeling of flesh on flesh, and the tingling sensation of human energy. Even premature babies know what I mean.
One study showed that premature infants who received three 15-minute human massages every day for 10 days gained almost 50 percent more weight than infants who took in the same amount of calories but received no massage. I guess one could argue that it’s the extra attention rather than the physical touch itself that led to this weight gain, but I wouldn’t be willing to bet on that. Babies often cry until they are held by another person; they don’t always stop crying when their mothers come into the room and talk to them from two feet away.
It’s just not socially acceptable for mothers to continue cuddling their children past a certain age. Despite that reality, people of all ages can still experience that simple, soothing, healing touch when they hop onto a human massage therapist’s table.
Sorry, robots.
