Putting the Human Back in Network Engineering
By Jason Gintert
2 min read
Mar 1, 2026
I recently came across a report from the American Psychiatric Association showing that half of Americans cut back on social media in 2025. I've done the same, so it was reassuring to know I'm not alone in that decision. Another report that really stuck with me was the Surgeon General declaring loneliness a public health crisis, equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes daily. I guess I had no idea of the deep physiological impact of being alone.
We built all these social tools to connect but it turns out, we're more isolated than ever.
The evidence is everywhere once you start looking:
- X/Twitter lost 32 million users in twelve months
- A movement called Smartphone Free Childhood grew to 350,000 parents across 42 countries in under a year
- Harvard researchers found that just one week away from social media reduced anxiety by 16% and depression by 25%
There’s some deep human impact there.
Real damage at the hands of modern tech also shows up in hiring. Job seekers discovered they could use AI to flood applications so LinkedIn was seeing 11,000 per minute last June. Employers responded in kind by cranking up their AI filters but both sides lose in this arms race. Harvard Business School found that 88% of employers admitted their systems filter out qualified candidates who don't perfectly match keywords. The result? Millions of capable workers becoming "hidden workers" which are people who never make it past the algorithms to an actual human reviewer.
Think about what we've lost here. We used to give people shots. Someone with transferable skills but an unconventional background but a great attitude. A slightly more junior engineer with curiosity and a willingness to learn. A veteran whose military experience didn't translate to civilian resume keywords but has incredible problem solving skills and work ethic. Those candidates now get filtered out before a human sees them. As Harvard professor Joseph Fuller put in the Harvard Business School report above, people who are "80%, 90% of the way home to being qualified fall out of the candidate pool, having never been assessed by a human being."
And before anyone suggests online conference calls like Zoom, Teams or other count, I hate to break it to you but they don't. Multiple studies found that face-to-face communication is the most important predictor of mental health, while messaging apps actually showed a negative association with wellbeing. As researchers put plainly, technology-mediated communication is not capable of being a substitute for face-to-face communication.
This is exactly why groups like USNUA matter more now than even just a few years ago. When half of adults are cutting back on social media, when most people don't trust AI, when loneliness is an epidemic and when hiring systems openly admit they're filtering out so many qualified people, the value of genuine human-to-human networking is greater than ever.
User groups, conferences, meetups over beers are more valuable precisely because so much else on the internet feels hollow. You don’t get the nuance of voice inflection or facial expressions through a screen. Algorithms can sort resumes but they can't see potential. They can't recognize that someone who doesn't fit the exact profile might be exactly what you need. They can't replace the conversation at a meetup where someone mentions they're hiring and you immediately think of the person you know who'd be perfect for the role.
Your real human network, the kind built in person or through channels where actual people communicate (i.e. no bots), creates relationships that exist independent of any employer's org chart. In an age of infinite AI generated content and automated everything, the most valuable thing you can offer is genuine attention and authentic connection.
Come out and connect at your local NUG. I guarantee you won’t be sorry you did.
