on rejecting convenience, going analog, and algoholishm

Our lives has become super convenient today, both as a positive and negative. In our obsessive quest for getting things done faster and faster, convenience has entered our lives as a must.

Now, I’m not saying convenience is an evil - but, when it removes the engagement we do with the world (in forms of creation, curation, and so on) it might actually be. All we do is consume consume consume without creating much ourselves. It’s like PewDiePie said in his video “I Fixed YouTube !”:

“we got consuming with not intent and creating with no intent … congrats, we’ve industrialized nothingness”.

We’re optimizing the fun out of a cozy game, and we end up having no story to tell in the evening to our close ones - just because our day was 100% convenient. People have become algoholics, where they don’t remember what they were watching three videos ago - like just a few minutes ago. I like what MecklesFrog said in his video “The Importance of Inconvenience”:

“Does one need to smell flowers more quickly, more efficiently?”

Consumption eats creation with every thing being one click, one prompt, one tap away. But, there’s a trend going on now by people longing fore more calmness and intentionality in their lives. More people are going analog and are curating their entertainment more, instead of being fed whatever the algorithm gives them. This can be seen especially in the music industry, where people want the simplicity of the CD player as well as wanting to own their music more.

Of course nostalgia plays a huge role here, but I think people also want more physical media as it has the hands-on element. The “IKEA” effect also has something to do with it I guess, as people are putting time into curating their music library and having to work for finding the specific CD or fixing the MP3 metadata - the labor leads to love. It’s like Thomas Pain said:

“What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly”

I guess there is some sort of magic to the mundane as well, as it offers spaces in our minds to wander.

I know for a fact that I’m doing some of this myself in regards to convenience and wanting things done more quickly, more efficiently. Especially with TV entertainment, where I want to finish a series fast, just so I can see the next one on my list. But, I’m trying to fix this one step at a time - like with my MP3-player after leaving Spotify. Having a dedicated device for music is a nice feel.

Just going back to the trend where people are doing more of this, I wanted to point out the low tech mainfesto aswell to check out. I think there’s some food for thought there, and I think it would be more healthy, especially for the environment, to not always keep upgrading every two years. Why need a new iPhone when your old one still works?

Okay, a bit off topic, but yeah - let’s go back to having a bit more friction in our lives. Go to the library to rent a movie like wer used to before, instead of scrolling Netflix for something new. Write that birthday invitation yourself, instead of prompting AI to do it for you.

Let’s try to not end up like the humans portrayed in Wall-E lol.

toodlepip!