Technological Convenience
Very few of us doubt the benefits of modern technological conveniences, and even fewer go through their day-to-day lives without relying on them at every step. In many ways, it puts us in a trance-like state where we are progressing through time and tasks, without needing to do the work that was required before this tech revolution. In its most extreme form, you could wake up to a sleep-tracking alarm clock; check your smartphone for a briefing on everything important to you while putting forth minimal effort; drive to work in your autonomous car, even without being fully awake; and when lunch comes around, a few taps of the phone…and just like magic…food that was processed, packaged neatly by machines, delivered, prepared, and GPS-guided is now right in front of you.
And all of this is just before noon.
Obviously, this is not the reality for everyone, but it just goes to show where the technology is headed, and what its potential is. These amenities serve to reduce our cognitive load and give us back a bit of energy and time, which we can then utilize to focus on more important matters to us. Even if you take away all of this modern technology, our brains are always seeking out conveniences anyway, via mental shortcuts and so-called heuristics. A heuristic is a type of mental shortcut that humans and animals use to make decisions, pass judgment, and solve problems quickly, without having to constantly consider the next course of action.
Heuristics are especially crucial when information is absent or an immediate decision must be made, as they guide behavior in the most efficient way.
For example, you might believe car theft is much more common in your area than it actually is after seeing several news reports on the subject. This is called the availability heuristic, and we rely on it when there is a lack of time or resources to investigate a subject ourselves. Given our human nature to seek out conveniences, we are continuously giving up a bit of control for more.
Control, Power, Responsibility
This is a problem. Having control gives us power, and with that power comes responsibility (as they say). This is responsibility for managing not only that power but also the consequences of it. For example, the social media overlords wield immense power with their platforms, having control over the users. At the same time, they must be held responsible for decisions made over censoring, banning, algorithms, etc. If not, this unchecked power (unchecked by us), means we have absolutely no control over our digital lives.
So, why are we so quick to abdicate that power? Well arguably, it is for convenience or — as many say– for something better. A sensor that automatically unlocks the car door for us is worth the convenience. It’s better than having to do it manually ourselves, and we really don’t give away much in the way of control for what we get in convenience. On the other hand, some technological conveniences go a bit too far and the tradeoff is not equal, meaning we give away more control than the benefit we receive from the convenience. In this sense, are these conveniences really better?
This takes us to the world of Web 2.0, or social media and the news feed more generally. We have become so acclimated to being delivered content rather than seeking it out ourselves, and even the occasional web search is delivered to us in a less than transparent way (why are the results rank-ordered in the way that they are, and why can’t you or I change that?).
These are more modern technological conveniences, of the digital kind, and in this case, we’d rather relinquish aspects of our privacy for a bit more convenience. All of this is in an effort to minimize mouse clicks and screen taps while in the process conserving our precious brainpower. You know…for an attacking tiger or some other urgent matter. There’s more to it than just this of course.
We seek novelty as a dopamine hit. It keeps us scrolling through our newsfeeds and supports the rents that Web 2.0 platforms gain from us by so glibly giving away our attention (e-commerce hawkers as well when it comes to giving away our money). Giving away our attention is giving away our power, all for convenience (and yes, a dopamine rush). What is it that we are giving up for these technological sleights of hand? Again, it is control along with responsibility.
We are in effect abdicating our responsibility to the internet gods. Responsibility for what? Ultimately, responsibility for our own welfare. We’d rather not take the responsibility to do the work required to benefit our own welfare, our well-being. In other words, it is to make sure that we’re being delivered (fed) what is in our best interests, rather than someone else’s. The cost of relinquishing control isn’t as obvious as the immediate benefit of reduced cognitive load (i.e., convenience).
Kind of crazy, isn’t it?
Convenience and Lack of Control
But there are costs to both us and society in terms of our own welfare and that of societies as a whole. Call this net social welfare. We’d like our individual and collective activities to lead to net positive welfare, and our collective activities to lead to net positive social welfare. In other words, the benefits outweigh the costs. In this case, the convenience we gain should not relinquish our control. It brings to mind a recent episode.
In the testing of our own platform, feedback from a few of the testers was that the app expected ‘users’ to do the work for the platform. This includes things like entering in your areas of interest, rather than some algorithm figuring them out. This wasn’t intended as a compliment, and it was before we’d integrated in smart features to facilitate similar sorts of outcomes, but it did bring home how far the expectations around digital convenience have come; we’re more than happy to relinquish control for the convenience.
What this comes down to is that there are times when conveniences don’t compensate for the loss of control. Then there’s a difference between facilitating and manipulating. A tool facilitates outcomes. For example, using a hammer to drive a nail through wood means the hammer is the tool that facilitates the outcome. You utilize the hammer when you need it for a specific application. It’s a tool of convenience and you remain in control. Similarly, when you conduct a web search, the search application is the tool. But in this case, the lines between convenience and control start to blur.
Things become even more opaque when talking about social media feeds or recommendation engines, where convenience starts to give way to control, and that control is not in your hands. Manipulation starts to set in. Is it more convenient for you? Perhaps. But is it better for you? For your or society’s net welfare?
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