Personal Attention Is the New Luxury: Lessons from Alberta’s Teacher Strike

*By NOBLE technology's Tara Stewart, as featured in the November Edition of Wellness Education Magazine

A Crisis in Alberta, A Mirror for Us All

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to fully make sense of the tensions unfolding in Alberta as teachers strike for better conditions. The politics are complex, the causes layered, but what’s unmistakable are the signs pointing to something deeper. Parents with means are paying extra for private schools that promise smaller class sizes. Public school teachers, stretched thin, are fighting to give each student the time and focus they know makes the difference. You don’t need to be an insider to see the pattern. Personal attention changes outcomes. It shapes confidence, learning, and growth. And as it becomes harder to provide, its value becomes clearer. What’s emerging isn’t just a debate about education, it’s a reflection of a much larger societal challenge.

As technology scales, intimacy shrinks

Modern society is more distracted, more isolated, more anxious than ever. The loneliness epidemic, rising mental health needs, and fractured focus all point to the same truth: a deep and growing hunger for connection. As genuine attention grows scarce, its value climbs. We see it in the rise of private schools, boutique healthcare, and bespoke services, costly attempts to reclaim what should be simple: the human exchange of presence and care. This is what NOBLE technology calls “The Presence Premium”, the evolution of true attention that has become rare enough to buy. And while some can pay for it, others are left behind, widening a societal divide that touches every classroom, clinic, and community. And for those tasked with giving this attention, teachers, doctors, and caregivers, the burden is even heavier.

Digital Convenience has a Societal Cost

Digital tools promise speed and relief, and for overwhelmed professionals, they can seem like lifelines. Teachers juggling thirty students, or doctors rushing through endless appointments, often turn to online platforms, digital assessments, and automated communication just to keep pace.

Yet many do so with a heavy heart. They know these tools can’t replicate the depth of real connection or the subtle understanding that comes from being fully present. Over time, the gap between what they want to provide and what they can provide takes a toll. This quiet dissonance is eroding professional fulfillment. Educators and healthcare workers report rising burnout, compassion fatigue, and a sense of moral injury, feeling they’re failing the very people they entered their professions to serve. As demands grow and genuine connection becomes harder to sustain, many are walking away entirely. It’s a cycle: the more they’re asked to do, the more they lean on technology; the more they rely on it, the less satisfied they feel. The convenience that once promised support is now contributing to a deep, systemic exhaustion, one measured not only in lost workers, but in lost purpose.

The Mirage of Digital Solutions

On the other side of this crisis, governments are just as susceptible to the lure of digital convenience. Across democracies, rising populations, economic uncertainty, and strained budgets are pushing public systems to their limits. To policymakers, digital platforms can seem like the perfect solution, cost-effective, scalable, and efficient. They promise to reach more citizens with fewer resources: digital classrooms, telehealth, and AI-driven services. Yet as with all things, balance matters. A healthy society, like a healthy life, thrives in moderation. In their rush to modernize, even well-intentioned governments risk leaning too far, replacing rather than complementing the human touch.

An all-in approach to digitization may save costs today but carries a hidden price: the slow erosion of trust, empathy, connection and social division. And for those on the frontlines, teachers, healthcare providers, and service professionals, forced digitization can bring its own harm. When screens and systems stand between them and the people they serve, their work becomes less personal, less fulfilling, and increasingly defined by efficiency over empathy. Strategic, purposeful digital planning is truly the cornerstone of modern governance, where digital tools expand access but never eclipse the irreplaceable value of human presence.

The Exchange of Presence and Care has Become a Luxury

The teacher strike in Alberta is more than a labour dispute; it’s a warning signal. Regardless of where one stands politically, it reveals a truth too urgent to ignore: an essential human need - the ability to give and receive personal attention- is being commoditized into scarcity. This isn’t just about schools. The growing demand for private education, personalized healthcare, one-on-one mental health support, and bespoke services exposes a deeper imbalance. We are trying to buy back what is being eroded by convenience and automation: human connection.

If there’s one lesson to take forward, it’s this: personal attention matters more than ever, especially for our children. No app, AI, or algorithm can replace the steady gaze of a caring teacher, the listening ear of a doctor, or the reassuring presence of someone who truly sees us.

The Alberta strike offers us a chance to pause and look deeper, to recognize how pervasive digitization is quietly narrowing access to the most basic human needs. We can choose instead to be intentional: to preserve what makes us human, to protect what helps us flourish, and to value presence as the foundation of thriving communities. Because in a society racing toward efficiency, our greatest luxury, and our deepest necessity, remains one another.

Footnotes:

What Is The Presence Premium?

· Coined by NOBLE Technology, The Presence Premium describes the growing value and scarcity of genuine human attention.

· As digital systems expand, true presence becomes something we buy through smaller classrooms, private care, and personalized services.

· Once freely given, it’s now rare enough to carry a price tag.

Signs of a Connection Crisis

· Rising loneliness epidemic

· Increased burnout among teachers and doctors

· Growing demand for private schools and concierge care

· Widening gap in access to genuine human attention

Each is a symptom of the same root cause: the erosion of everyday presence.

~Tara Stewart