seeking inconvenience (an illustrated essay)

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Title: seeking inconvenience (an illustrated essay by Mia S. Shaw, PhD)
- Staples easy button with a text to the right: “Back in 2004, Staples released a commercial during the Super Bowl featuring their popular “Easy Button” and the tagline “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easy button for life?”
- Text: “Though such a button doesn’t exist (yet), it’s got me thinking about the different conveniences provided by modern technologies in my own day-to-day life”; surrounded by illustrations: (1) truck labeled “TWO OR SAME DAY DELIVERY”, (2) laptop streaming content, (3) Lyft logo, (4) simplified GPS route between two points, (5) Face ID & Touch ID logos
- XY-graph with “free time” on y-axis and “use of modern tech” on x-axis. Also illustration of Black woman with short hair, glasses, and hoop earrings with speech bubble: “Obviously, there’s nothing inherently wrong with seeking comfort or convenience. Ideally, relying on these time-saving technologies could gift us more time for engaging in creative endeavors or hanging out with friends and family.”
- Text: “However, there are hidden costs that we need to consider. In terms of psychological costs…” are written. Hands lifting up a box over the words “hidden costs”. Below are two brains: First brain is sitting at table with their phone in one hand looking exhausted with text “Increased depression and anxiety from prolonged smartphone (and social media) use.” Second brain is standing at pay phone with questions marks above and text “Over-reliance on technology can make the problem being solved worsen.”
- Nerve cell releasing dopamine to receptors of another nerve cell with below text “When we experience a convenience, our brains release a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which creates feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. Even though it plays an important role in controlling mood, sleep, and memory, it can also play a role in people developing addictions.” Speech bubble from the first nerve saying “Ooh two-day delivery!”
- Brown hand holding up lens. Inside lens is text “Zooming out from our personal experiences can also help us see the social, economic, and environmental costs of our culture of hyper-convenience.”
-Text: “On a personal level, I miss out on opportunities to connect with people socially when I rely on ordering delivery.” Below is an illustration of me receiving a cup of coffee from a barista and saying “Ooh I love your braids” and the barista responding “thank you!”. Below is self checkout machine with screen displaying text: “The more stores that install self-checkouts, the more cashiers who lost their jobs.” Below is text “And as cities continue to create shared contracts with rideshare companies like Uber, public transit continues to lose resources and funding.” Below is funnel with money pouring in and tube that bifurcates into one box labeled “public transit” and another box labeled “Uber”. Money bypasses public transit path and falls into Uber box.
- Black silhouette of overflowing shopping cart with text “ Unfortunately, a widespread, capitalistic culture of hyper-consumerism has contributed to immense waste, environmental destruction, and human rights issues across the globe.”
- Three Amazon workers holding up signs who are striking with the text: “For example, despite the popularity of innovations like “2-day delivery” and “Prime Day”, Amazon has been under fire for committing major labor violations against its workers” at the top. Below is Amazon warehouse filled with boxes and bags of unpurchased merchandise. Below is man standing on giant pile of waste covering most of a beach with text: “…and how a lot of that waste and pollution ends up dumped on beaches in countries like Ghana.”
- Three boxes, each with a cylindrical tower of pieces representing different types of data (“age, race, gender, class, level of ed, religion, language, height, weight, spending habits voting info”). First box labeled “[Amazon logo] data”, second box labeled “[Facebook logo] data,” and third box labeled “[Google logo] data”. Text: “There are also privacy and security concerns that come with giving away so much of our data to these well-known companies.”
- Text: “Personally I believe multinational corporations should bear the brunt of the responsibility for addressing these systemic issues but what can society do to shed its culture of hyper-convenience?” Around bottom of text are three lizards: first is all white; second is starting to shed some of its skin, revealing a black head; and third is completely black, with the shedded skin hanging off its tail.”
- Text: “These days, it’s imperative we resist the ways Big Tech is currently exploiting society’s desire for convenience by pushing their generative AI models like ChatGPT (despite the lack of regulations and ethical concerns).”
- Black woman with short hair and glasses’ head from behind holding a mirror with inside text: “Lately, I’ve been wondering: How can I shift my daily thoughts, behaviors, values, and relationships with others and intentionally seek out more inconvenience in my everyday life?”
- Hands cutting vegetables on a cutting board with text “Like cooking from scratch more…”
- Black woman with short hair and glasses picking out books on library shelf with text “…or supporting my local library.”
- Laptop with text “Cancel membership? Yes? No?” on the screen and text: “From cancelling my Amazon Prime subscription…”
- Storefront with text: “…to shopping at the stores directly (especially Mom and Pop shops).”
- iPhone with three arrows pointing to different items (an alarm clock, a calculator, and GPS) with text: “From decoupling my phone from regularly used apps…”
- Black woman with short hair and glasses standing at a bus stop drinking coffee and bus pulling up with text: “…to relying on public transit”
- Text: “What do you think we can do moving forward to practice new ways of being that value slowness, connection, and sustainability?”
- Text: “Sources. 1. Staples. (2005, February 6). Easy Button [Video]. AdAge. https://adage.com/video/staples-easy-button/ 2. Bilash, R. (2023, October 15). The big idea: is convenience making our lives more difficult? Medium. 3. Curmi, A. (2024, November 4). The big idea: is convenience making our lives more difficult? The Guardian. 4. Stacey, N. (Director). (2024). Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy [Film]. Netflix.”