Every convenience transfers effort somewhere.

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

Convenience does not remove work; it relocates it. Somebody assembles, delivers, waits, or absorbs the effort you no longer have to spend, and sometimes that somebody is you later, dealing with the consequence of the shortcut. The effort is conserved even when it leaves your line of sight.

This is not an argument against convenience, which is often worth buying. It is an argument for knowing where the effort went. Ask who is carrying it, and whether the arrangement is one you would defend out loud.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Who does the work that your favorite shortcut avoids?

MORE IN PERCEPTION & ATTENTION

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.