Like the Black Mirror episode, I pointed out to Chris (when he returned from a long period of being unreachable by phone; reason: he fell asleep) how I could always talk to his mii on Miitomo. Because that Mii in particular would always be there, would be always be present.

That mii would always be ready to ask me random (innocuous) questions like:

What is your favorite word that begins with “o”?

or

What did you do last weekend?

But because of their trivial nature, the questions make me feel like I am being heard even if it’s not Chris actually asking the question. Then I would type in the answer and receive validation once Chris as himself actually taps the “heart” button and/or adds a comment.

“I can go to Miitomo to feel like I am being heard,” I said. “He will always listen to me. He will always talk to me. He will always smile at the right time, frown at the right time, and get angry at the right time.”

Yet I thought about that though. Isn’t that just lifting the best parts of the relationship? I love being heard and understood. And by crafting Miitomo to take care of that aspect, it’s missing all the nuance of a relationship—the particular ups and downs. The fact that some people won’t be present every moment. The fact that people won’t naturally ask certain questions and expect certain responses. The fact that our expressions won’t appear consistently—sometimes we’re too distracted by something in our lives, sometimes we can’t relate it to ourselves, sometimes we simply just can’t understand. And that is part of the human experience. Because I wonder if being heard 100% with the mii version on miitomo would be fulfilling for the rest of my life.