Our time is a vacuum in the modern world. Whatever space accumulates is filled instantaneously, and anything new we take on in this vacuum puts pressure on what already exists. The base institutions of living - taking care of family, body, religion - suffer. So, we have a 55" TV and a belly approaching that size. We know TV families better than our own, and prefer the artificial reality on TV to spending the time to ask real questions about our reality - our place in the Universe.
It must be noted that much of the time we lose is out of our control. We accomplish more at work now than at any point in history (worker productivity), but we also work more. You'd think that we would work less, given the increased production, once our needs were met, but materialism, driven by advertising, is always there to tell us what we should want next -- that next key to that elusive material bliss.
So, you need to work extra hours to get a big house, and if enough people work those hours, everyone else needs to do it just to be competitive in the labor market. This is, for the most part, out of our personal control. It's the stuff of economics on a world-wide scale -- of government and society, not the individual.
We still have free time. The increased productivity we have at work also applies in the home, so laundry can be done in fractions of time over an afternoon, rather then a day or two of hard labor. We don't have to grow crops, mill grain, bake bread or even prepare meals anymore. So, what we lost in pursuit of materialism, that technology and progress provides, is at least partially gained back through those same means.
This isn't to say all efficiency produces the best product. Vitamin based nutrition doesn't match what comes from real food. Many of the heavily processed & refined foods prepared for us provide little more than calories.
The same thing applies to technology. The vacuum makes us more productive, but that doesn't mean the robot vacuum will do the same. The rice cooker/steamer may become an essential part of making dinner, but the snow cone maker will mostly just take up shelf space, not to mention time.
The difficulty then is to walk the thin line between taking the best fruits that the modern world offers, but ONLY the best fruits...not getting lost in its vapid charms. This isn't easy, because nearly every factor is lined up against you.
(1) The addiction to modern convenience is strong, even when you don't accept the conventional wisdom. The allure of the iPhone is there, even if you know it will add more complexity to life than anything else. The ads lie, and even if you know that, it's still so damn cool looking.
(2) It's easy to miss the loss, when there is a gain. Cell phones made communication (or at least the expectation of communication) instantaneous when they became near-universal about a decade ago. This was a gain, but it comes at the cost of serenity. The thought of a day without communication is hard to imagine. You can leave your cell phone at home, but it's almost a blatant disregard for modern protocol.....it's rebellious.
(3) The 'easy' way is rarely the best. Our default option, in most cases, is pretty bad. If you don't take the time to select carefully from a restaurant menu, then you will get a few days worth of sodium and calories. If you listen to what the Realtor association says you should spend on a new house, then you will be a slave to a mortgage. But don't worry, because if you listened to what the diamond industry recommends for an engagement ring then you won't be able to afford a house or dinner out to begin with.
(4) Be a Luddite, not a reviewer. We are loss averse, so it's best to be conservative adopting new technology. We have an easier time ignoring new stuff than we do giving up what we have, so it might be better to slow your adoption of questionable stuff, rather then try to review or judge every item after use.
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