seeking inconvenience (an illustrated essay)
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Title: seeking inconvenience (an illustrated essay by Mia S. Shaw, PhD)
Image 1: An illustrated easy button with a text box to the right stating: “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?”
Image 2: The words “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” are surrounded by illustrations of (1) a truck with the words “TWO OR SAME DAY DELIVERY”, (2) a laptop streaming content, (3) the Lyft logo, (4) a simplified GPS route between two points, and (5) Apple’s Face ID and Touch ID logos
Image 3: There is a xy-graph with “free time” on the y-axis and “use of modern tech” on the x-axis. Floating above the graph is an illustration of me (Black woman with short hair, glasses, and hoop earrings) and a speech bubble saying “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.”
Image 4: The words “However, there are hidden costs that we need to consider. In terms of psychological costs…” are written. There is an illustration of hands lifting up a box over the words “hidden costs”. Below the sentence are illustrations of two brains: The first brain is sitting at a table with their phone in one hand looking exhausted” and the text “Increased depression and anxiety from prolonged smartphone (and social media) use.” The second brain is standing at a pay phone with questions marks above its head and the text “Over-reliance on technology can make the problem being solved worsen.”
Image 5: There is an illustration of a nerve cell releasing dopamine to receptors of another nerve cell. The text below states “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.” There is a speech bubble from the first nerve saying “Ooh two-day delivery!”
Image 6: There is a brown hand holding up a lens. Inside the lens are the words: “Zooming out from our personal experiences can also help us see the social, economic, and environmental costs of our culture of hyper-convenience.”
Image 7: There is a text box with the words “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 an illustration of a self checkout machine with the following words displayed on the screen: “The more stores that install self-checkouts, the more cashiers who lost their jobs.” Below is a text box with the words “And as cities continue to create shared contracts with rideshare companies like Uber, public transit continues to lose resources and funding. Below is a funnel with money pouring in and a tube that bifurcates into two paths: A box with the words “public transit” and a box with the words “Uber”. The money bypasses the public transit path and falls into the uber box.
Image 8: There is a black silhouette of a shopping cart filled with a mountain of what looks like coal and the words “ Unfortunately, a widespread, capitalistic culture of hyper-consumerism has contributed to immense waste, environmental destruction, and human rights issues across the globe.”
Image 9: There is an illustration of 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” displayed at the top. Below is an illustration of an Amazon warehouse filled with boxes and bags of unpurchased merchandise that’s thrown out by major brands…” Below is an illustration of a man standing on giant pile of clothes waste that’s covering most of a beach and the text: “…and how a lot of that waste and pollution ends up dumped on beaches in countries like Ghana.”
Image 10: There are 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”). The first box is labeled “[Amazon logo] data”, the second box is labeled “[Facebook logo] data,” and the third box is labeled “[Google logo] data”. To the right is text that reads “There are also privacy and security concerns that come with giving away so much of our data to these well-known companies.”
Image 11: There is a block of text that reads “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 the bottom of the text are three lizards: the first is all white; the second is starting to shed some of its skin, revealing a black head; and the third is completely black, with the shedded skin hanging off its tail.”
Image 12: Text box: “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).
Image 13: There is an illustration of my head from behind, and in my hand is a mirror with the following text inside: “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?”
Image 14: There is an illustration of hands cutting vegetables on a cutting board with text above stating “Like cooking from scratch more…”
Image 15: There is an illustration of me picking out books on a library shelf and the text “…or supporting my local library.”
Image 16: There is an illustration of a laptop with the words “Cancel membership? Yes? No?” on the screen and the following text: “From cancelling my Amazon Prime subscription…”
Image 17: An illustration of a storefront and the following text: “…to shopping at the stores directly (especially Mom and Pop shops).”
Image 18: There is an illustration of an iPhone with three arrows pointing to different items (an alarm clock, a calculator, and gps) and the following text: “From decoupling my phone from regularly used apps…”
Image 19: There is an illustration of me standing at a bus stop drinking coffee and a bus pulling up with the following text: “…to relying on public transit”
Image 20: Text box: “What do you think we can do moving forward to practice new ways of being that value slowness, connection, and sustainability?”
Image 21: 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.
