What does "contacting another human" actually mean when all of these messages are being answered by agents first? If I'm texting my friends and family I expect that to be answered by a human, but beyond that I am partially expecting it to be answered by an agent, and possibly routed to a human eventually.

I mean sending messages to someone who you know is a human being - a friend, a coworker, a subject-expert, a journalist.

If you know that you're messaging a non-human (or likely-non-human) then the social stigma shouldn't apply.