by Kimberly Foster

Created on: March 31, 2010   Last Updated: April 01, 2010

The Case for Inconvenience

If every action taken has a consequence, the question of what consequence we sustain based on our daily actions must be examined in detailed.  Socrates called the unexamined life not worth living, but we might suggest that the unexamined actions we perform on a daily basis may make our children’s lives not worth living.

We live in a convenience-driven world.  We need convenience, our lives have become so packed with what we have to accomplish that the idea of living life without some of that convenience equals less productivity and that is simply not an option.

If we are to examine our lives and the role that convenience plays in it, would we find the benefits of convenience outweigh the consequences?  What are the consequences of convenience?

We all must have our own car because the bus or train is not convenient or takes too much time.  We cannot walk or bike due to distance or physical ability.  We can’t carpool because we need to stop off at the store on the way home, or we get home quicker if we take our own car or we might have to work late or we don’t care for the other people in the carpool. 

It’s just not convenient. The consequence is that we too many cars on the road and too much CO2 in the air, but this isn’t a convenience, it’s a necessity, right? 

We eat processed and fast food because we don’t have time to eat let alone cook.  Convenient meals are the name of the game.  If it can be ready and on the table (assuming you eat at a table) in 30 minutes or less then that’s the right choice. 

The consequences of our convenience diet are obesity, diabetes and children that don’t know what a potato looks like or that their French fries come from one.  We grab food to go and eat in the car right out of its polystyrene package then we throw the polystyrene away to live in a landfill for the next 500 years.  Even if there is a non-disposable option we vote for the disposable because it’s…convenient.

We turn on the television while working on the laptop with our iPod on and lights on in every room in the house.  We call ourselves multi-tasking but the truth is we run on sensory overload.  If we had to just sit and be quiet, we’d have to pause and we’re too busy to do that.  Think of how much we could be getting done. 

The consequences are stress, fatigue, depression,

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