Technology is great. You can pretty much do almost everything from within your own home, and in many cases don’t need to get up off the couch to do them. So in this article I’m going to explain some of the ways in which we use technology to exert as little effort as possible.
A long time ago they had to work for a living, and I mean work with a capital “W”. Everything was made by hand, clothes, food, furniture, you name it. Then the industrial revolution came along and changed all that. We now had machines that did a lot of work. Still we had to do manual labor. Then came the 70′s when the personal computer was born. At first wasn’t much more than glorified calculator. Now it can do a lot more. It can compose music, do art, and works of literature, balance your budget, etc. Now with the internet where you can do everything virtually; you almost don’t even need to leave your home.
Here are some ways we use technology to exert as little effort as possible. Keep in mind this isn’t a list of modern conveniences like indoor plumbing and heating. Maybe I can write a future article on ways technology has made us lazy?
- Key-less entry – we now no longer have to unlock our doors by turning a key, we can either use a keypad or we can press a button to unlock doors, and even start cars in some cases. Of course this assumes we’re still going to use a car. Now we can call or make reservations online for a bus, shuttle, or taxi to come pick us up.
- Fast Food – The drive-thru window is relatively new. Before the 70′s you had to go into a restaurant to buy food, now you can just drive up to a window and get your food on the go.
- Alarms or Timers – What about alarms that get us out of bed instead of having a rooster wake us up at the crack of dawn?
- Automatic Coffee Maker – Is not just a synonym for wife now, we have machines that once set will wake you up in the morning with that smell of fresh coffee.
- Automatic Dish Washer – See above. Now you don’t need to wash the dishes in dirty water and dry them with the same towel you wiped your face on, instead you just put them and some soap in a machine and it gets them cleaner than your wife ever could.
- Robot Vacuums – The next best thing to Robot Butlers. Just set it and forget it.
- Internet – The internet is a great way to order things and you don’t even need to leave your house. You can even get postal services to come and pick up stuff so all you have to do is take it to the front door. You can order food, furniture, clothes, everything.
- Video Games – Why play board games where you physically throw dice, why not have computers do the mental work, you just have to sit there pressing buttons.
- Video Rental – You now don’t need to go to a counter to rent movies, you can go to a kiosk press a few buttons and out pops your movie or game. In some cases you can just subscribe to a service that sends them out without late fees and allows you to keep them as long as you like.
- Robots that build cars – To make this a top ten list I had to add one more, and I decided to add robotic car manufacture. Back when Ford introduced his car for the masses, the assembly line was state of the art. Now cars can be built in a quarter the time as they used to by hand.
So there you have it, ten ways in which we use technology to exert as little effort as possible. Do you have anymore to add to this list? If so be sure to make a comment about it. Please keep in mind these should be technology items that enable us to work less or not-at-all.
Until ‘Monday’