Asking Apple Care for help with your existential crises

It’s late, you’re alone and all your friends are offline. You’ve just been through a terrible break-up and you need someone to talk to. Perhaps once upon a time you’d have had to suck it up, but suffer no more - help may be at hand.

In the age of instant communication we are never alone, or at least that’s how the saying goes. Artist Ambar Navarro tested this theory one night by messaging Apple Support online chat service (that well-known shoulder to cry on?), where you can receive product support from Apple specialists. But Ambar didn’t want product support, she was after emotional support. She’d just been through a time, and needed to open up.

Ambar’s new art piece depicts the conversations she (allegedly) had at 4am speaking to Apple Specialists and Siri about her feelings and relationship problems.

The animations are disconcerting, partially because of just how intimate the conversations can get. Ambar is completely open about her feelings, as you would be with a close friend: “I’m mostly sad because of my ex dumping me,” she writes to an anonymous Apple Support provider, “I think about him all the time, but I know he’s already moved on and forgotten”. The reactions of the faceless people on the other of Apple Chat vary considerably. Some are flippant and dismissive, “I’m sorry you’re bored, have you browsed our products? How can you not get excited?... We can chat about anything in the Apple Online Store!”. Others, offer a surprising amount of support: “He has moved on, which is fine. Now you just need to look forward, not back. You can’t see where you’re going if you keep looking back.”

Ambar’s animations aim to explore loneliness in the digital age. Is there even an excuse to feel lonely anymore? Can technology beat it altogether? A recent survey of 12,000 users of assitant app Assistant.ai showed that 40 per cent of users could imagine falling in love with their virtual assistant. Could this really be the case? Can we really get into intimate, fulfilling relationships with virtual assistants and faceless strangers? If so, it looks like complicated, messy human relationships don’t stand a chance.

A better means of support if you’re feeling down or lonely is the Samaritans, whom you can call on 116 123.

(via Dazed)