Why choose to make ourselves uncomfortable when we can avoid struggling through things? Comment Editor Safreen AC examines the downsides of convenience.
Developing skills through practice is out, and watching short-form video content with hacks that promise mastery at impossibly fast rates is in (“Here’s how I went from reading 1 book a year to 4 every month with just two simple steps”). Reading is obsolete because all the information you need to know about anything can be delivered in easily digestible bite-sized chunks on social media. The idea behind these things? Maximising convenience and minimising conflict and resistance.
The concept of trying to make something difficult easier is not new and hacks and methods that make learning more efficient can be useful in many situations. However, the expectation of instant gratification that has developed as a result of the internet and the increasing prominence of Generative AI in the last couple of years has changed these approaches entirely.
The idea behind more recent “hacks” is that all the busywork is outsourced — whether it’s to another person or an AI tool — so that your mind can work while being untouched by the more laborious aspects of the learning process. The part of writing that involves thinking of figuring out how to put your ideas together, the part of reading a book or paper that requires you to parse through the text and draw out its conclusions, the process of understanding how to work with a new instrument, software, or language — the bits that require friction and frustration — are effectively taken out, or at least reduced from the equation.
There is a certain appeal to the promise that you can do something meaningful without having to suffer through the indignities of being bad at it for a while. Trying to do something and feeling like you’re struggling to master it is not fun. It can feel slow, frustrating, unpleasant, and even humiliating when you’re trying to push yourself. Add to that the fact that most of us use devices that can deliver quick hits of dopamine with little effort, and the process of trudging through something that doesn’t deliver instant results feels even harder.
There is a certain appeal to the promise that you can do something meaningful without having to suffer through the indignities of being bad at it for a while.
The idea that everything in our lives can be predicated on convenience and efficiency ignores the fact that some amount of resistance is quite normal in the context of learning, or reading, or developing any kind of skill. I’m by no means an advocate for the idea that suffering is essential in order to excel at something or to produce meaningful art or research. However, taking out every source of friction in our lives is not the way to work against that.
The idea behind this removal of friction is that the process of labouring away or repeating tasks over and over until you figure things out is an impediment to your goals, rather than the process through which you gain new skills or knowledge. The resistance and frustration in these situations is what makes them generative experiences. Writing, reading, creating art, even critical thinking — these are not things that you are either born with or without. They are skills that are learnt, and developed through continuous use and outsourcing that use-process may make things easier, but it comes at the cost of the ability itself.
This drive towards convenience is not new or limited to the field of learning. From instantaneous delivery services to mental health advice that advocates for removing every source of conflict from your social life even if it puts you in an isolated state — the systems and discourse in the present moment seem intent on minimising any form of resistance we might experience. The idea that we must always be self-optimising and working towards reducing the investment of time and effort required in order to be our most efficient selves is a product of institutions established well before the internet, and it can be hard to let go of it.
But an idea or knowledge that exists in your mind means nothing if you lack the ability to express it or put it to use. The struggle that takes place in between having an idea or the desire to do something and bringing that to fruition is a fundamental condition of existence. My own distaste for the concept that hard work is the solution to everything (including systemic issues) is something I have learnt to balance with the fact that being forced to do things and put effort into them is exactly what made them easier to do in the long-term.
They are skills that are learnt, and developed through continuous use and outsourcing that use-process may make things easier, but it comes at the cost of the ability itself.
As an adult I’ve had to consciously put time aside to read and write. Sometimes people ask me how I do it and seem almost disappointed when my answer is that I force myself to do it even when I don’t feel like it. The lie that everyone is hacking their way through life is so pervasive that there’s a sense of disbelief at the concept of a person not doing that.
AI, like most technological advances, is a tool that can be used for different purposes. Rejecting convenience isn’t about taking a moral stance on the inherent nature of AI. It’s about rejecting the notion that convenience and ease as the thing we should be striving towards. Discomfort is okay sometimes. Friction is generative, and good things can and do come from it.