Convenience vs. Laziness
The refrigerator that can take inventory. The vacuum that vacuums for you. The lawnmower that mows for you.
Is this really what our country is coming to? If so, how about this?
The trash chute that lets you put the stinky leftovers like chicken bones onto a conveyor and deposits them in an airtight trash container somewhere else, like in your garage where the trash normally is?
How do we define convenience? And for every convenience we create, is it one step closer to laziness?
Convenience makes something that was previously difficult or unpleasant easier or more pleasant. Laziness is when a convenience eliminates the need to manually complete something, a development of reliance. Convenience and laziness are applied to actions, things that we do. As with any convenience there are consequences, sometimes unintended. But that can be the cost of progress.
Why do we create conveniences? Because we're lazy? Because we want to take jobs away from people?
We create conveniences because we think we're solving a problem. The steam engine was not developed only to eliminate the need for horse-pulled farm equipment. The steam engine was applicable to a number of actions and it had the unintended consequence of eliminating a lot of jobs. And while it eliminated a lot of jobs people used to do, it also freed up those same people to find other jobs, or, create new ones or start new businesses leveraging the steam engine.
The car had a number of effects on life, one of which was it could get us from place A to place B a lot faster. But without roads what good were they? The car's convenience was drastically hampered until the automakers came together to begin building smooth-running roads for the horseless carriage. If you really want to get crazy, you could blame the car for the rash of child kidnappings in the US. If it weren't for this convenience, kids would never be taken as far from home as they typically are by those same kidnappers. Kidnapping on foot or bicycle wouldn't get you very far, even 24 hours later. Of course, if searchers didn't have cars either it might not matter. Can kids play as safely outside, in the front yard, as they once could when there were fewer cars? Would we have so many soccer parents and complex schedules for our kids? Or would they still be enjoying Pop Rocks and playing tennis ball (baseball with a tennis ball, duh) in their own yards?
There's no doubt convenience is important. We want to solve problems. It's one way we define ourselves as humans. We solve problems. When are those problem-solving skills leading us to become lazier?
When conveniences become answers to questions nobody really had, that's when. You really want a refrigerator that keeps an inventory? Because you're too lazy to open the door? How about a refrigerator that keeps an inventory to itself and can notify my favorite grocery store when I'm low on some critical items and then has them ready for me? Grocery shopping itself is an inconvenience, especially if I have young children. The conveyor that carries away the stinky trash you don't want to carry out to the garbage in the garage? What? You must be kidding. Isn't that kids are for? "Take this to the trash, please. I don't want it to stink up the house." And it's done. It takes all of 30 or 45 seconds.
Here's another example: Your mobile phone. You might have 10 to 500 phone numbers stored. Can you remember a single phone number from that list? Should you be able to? What would happen if you lost all of that information and had no other way to retrieve it other than to start again? Would you be hamstrung? Is this convenience?
Look around your house. There are automated devices that solve all kinds of problems and make life more convenient. The washing machine and dryer make washing and drying clothes easier. The telephone lets us stay in contact with our friends and family more easily. And there are others for which there really is no excuse. And no question or problem that they solve. The George Foreman grill. The quesadilla maker. The TV. (I mean really, what was the question television was trying to answer? Entertainment? Who can't entertain themselves? Or go to a movie? Or play? Or spend time with their family? Or read? Nah, we can't either.)
I'm not against convenience. Without it, I wouldn't be writing this blog. But the problem lies in each of our definitions of convenience versus laziness. If, as we hear constantly, we don't have time for anything anymore, when are we going to find the time to create more conveniences? And when we do, what will their consequences be? The argument can very easily be extended to, of all things, the American obesity problem. Fast food is a convenience. What problem does it solve? It lets us buy pre-made food and eat it fast, because we don't have time to cook. We don't? Isn't fast food a self-fulfilling prophecy? I believe I don't have time, so I'll just drive through. Who said we don't have time? And, if I'm going home anyway, why would I stop for food? Won't the refrigerator just put in my order at the grocery store?
We don't have time anymore because we don't make it. We've allowed ourselves to prioritize without prioritizing. It's easier to simply pick up food on the way home, to let the Roomba vacuum. As we soften it makes me wonder if we're going to let the wonderful little things in life like making s'mores disappear like the Dodo. Is this really the evolution of our society that we want? Do we want the fire to be lit for us, the marshmallows pre-fired and chocolate pre-made on the split graham cracker, only to have to say "Yum"? Who's going to develop this convenience? I know I didn't ask for it.
All of this is thorny. Very thorny. And I'm struggling with my own definitions. You have your own. Don't let others tell you what they are. But then, if we all did that, we'd never buy anything off an infomercial, would we? And George Foreman's grill would never have been a big success.
Isn't that convenient?
Is this really what our country is coming to? If so, how about this?
The trash chute that lets you put the stinky leftovers like chicken bones onto a conveyor and deposits them in an airtight trash container somewhere else, like in your garage where the trash normally is?
How do we define convenience? And for every convenience we create, is it one step closer to laziness?
Convenience makes something that was previously difficult or unpleasant easier or more pleasant. Laziness is when a convenience eliminates the need to manually complete something, a development of reliance. Convenience and laziness are applied to actions, things that we do. As with any convenience there are consequences, sometimes unintended. But that can be the cost of progress.
Why do we create conveniences? Because we're lazy? Because we want to take jobs away from people?
We create conveniences because we think we're solving a problem. The steam engine was not developed only to eliminate the need for horse-pulled farm equipment. The steam engine was applicable to a number of actions and it had the unintended consequence of eliminating a lot of jobs. And while it eliminated a lot of jobs people used to do, it also freed up those same people to find other jobs, or, create new ones or start new businesses leveraging the steam engine.
The car had a number of effects on life, one of which was it could get us from place A to place B a lot faster. But without roads what good were they? The car's convenience was drastically hampered until the automakers came together to begin building smooth-running roads for the horseless carriage. If you really want to get crazy, you could blame the car for the rash of child kidnappings in the US. If it weren't for this convenience, kids would never be taken as far from home as they typically are by those same kidnappers. Kidnapping on foot or bicycle wouldn't get you very far, even 24 hours later. Of course, if searchers didn't have cars either it might not matter. Can kids play as safely outside, in the front yard, as they once could when there were fewer cars? Would we have so many soccer parents and complex schedules for our kids? Or would they still be enjoying Pop Rocks and playing tennis ball (baseball with a tennis ball, duh) in their own yards?
There's no doubt convenience is important. We want to solve problems. It's one way we define ourselves as humans. We solve problems. When are those problem-solving skills leading us to become lazier?
When conveniences become answers to questions nobody really had, that's when. You really want a refrigerator that keeps an inventory? Because you're too lazy to open the door? How about a refrigerator that keeps an inventory to itself and can notify my favorite grocery store when I'm low on some critical items and then has them ready for me? Grocery shopping itself is an inconvenience, especially if I have young children. The conveyor that carries away the stinky trash you don't want to carry out to the garbage in the garage? What? You must be kidding. Isn't that kids are for? "Take this to the trash, please. I don't want it to stink up the house." And it's done. It takes all of 30 or 45 seconds.
Here's another example: Your mobile phone. You might have 10 to 500 phone numbers stored. Can you remember a single phone number from that list? Should you be able to? What would happen if you lost all of that information and had no other way to retrieve it other than to start again? Would you be hamstrung? Is this convenience?
Look around your house. There are automated devices that solve all kinds of problems and make life more convenient. The washing machine and dryer make washing and drying clothes easier. The telephone lets us stay in contact with our friends and family more easily. And there are others for which there really is no excuse. And no question or problem that they solve. The George Foreman grill. The quesadilla maker. The TV. (I mean really, what was the question television was trying to answer? Entertainment? Who can't entertain themselves? Or go to a movie? Or play? Or spend time with their family? Or read? Nah, we can't either.)
I'm not against convenience. Without it, I wouldn't be writing this blog. But the problem lies in each of our definitions of convenience versus laziness. If, as we hear constantly, we don't have time for anything anymore, when are we going to find the time to create more conveniences? And when we do, what will their consequences be? The argument can very easily be extended to, of all things, the American obesity problem. Fast food is a convenience. What problem does it solve? It lets us buy pre-made food and eat it fast, because we don't have time to cook. We don't? Isn't fast food a self-fulfilling prophecy? I believe I don't have time, so I'll just drive through. Who said we don't have time? And, if I'm going home anyway, why would I stop for food? Won't the refrigerator just put in my order at the grocery store?
We don't have time anymore because we don't make it. We've allowed ourselves to prioritize without prioritizing. It's easier to simply pick up food on the way home, to let the Roomba vacuum. As we soften it makes me wonder if we're going to let the wonderful little things in life like making s'mores disappear like the Dodo. Is this really the evolution of our society that we want? Do we want the fire to be lit for us, the marshmallows pre-fired and chocolate pre-made on the split graham cracker, only to have to say "Yum"? Who's going to develop this convenience? I know I didn't ask for it.
All of this is thorny. Very thorny. And I'm struggling with my own definitions. You have your own. Don't let others tell you what they are. But then, if we all did that, we'd never buy anything off an infomercial, would we? And George Foreman's grill would never have been a big success.
Isn't that convenient?
posted by Toronto McKee at 7:08 AM
0 comments
