What are we doing with the “free” time convenience is buying us?

I remember watching a beautiful exchange of dialogues in the movie ‘Before Sunrise’ which hit me hard and has stayed with me for so many years now. I can’t remember the exact lines but goes something like this – have we collected all the free time that conveniences of the modern world have brought into our lives, and used it to take a break? Have we gone to the beach thinking “today I am using the time that ordering food to my doorstep has saved me instead of going to a restaurant?”. Well, most likely the answer is NO.

What are we doing with our “free time” then? Isn’t that the purpose of all this advanced technology – to ease our lives in a way that it will let us live more freely? Why isn’t that happening then? Why are we getting busier with each passing day, and not enjoying the benefits of the modern world as we should be?

This has left me wondering what’s truly the purpose of all this convenience then? And how much convenience do I really need in my life?

Don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate the fact that I can have long distance video calls with my family or google anything within seconds or not having to worry about standing in long queues to withdraw cash for every single payment transaction.

But the convenience that I am mostly referring to here is the perceived comfort of the modern-day world, where the mantra seems to be ‘fast is better’.

Sadly, the irony is that we have in fact learnt to get busier with all the “free” time technology is supposed to aid us with. We are in a rush to get more work done within a shorter span of time and any convenience that helps us get there is welcomed. We have stopped giving ourselves a break.

That is the reason I consciously try to approach this differently. I want to do the monotonous chores even if there is another easier way of doing it. I want to walk all the way to the grocery store and touch and feel the ingredients before buying them, instead of having them land at my doorstep. I find there is something magical in doing these chores and let your mind wander to infinite corners of the world. I find myself doing a lot of thinking and planning during such unassuming times and find it to be such a refresher from the constant screen time.

Doing the dishes is not exactly my idea of something fun, but it provides me with a little pause in my day giving me access to my inner self.

When I commute to work by bus, I try to resist the temptation of scrolling through my phone and letting minutes pass by mindlessly. I feel sad when every other person is glued to their phones and not even aware of who is sitting next to them. We have forgotten the magic of human interactions, or just observing, reflecting on things around. We find sitting with our own thoughts boring and that is an extremely disturbing fact in my opinion.

I know we cannot escape the invasion of technology in every aspect of our lives, and are probably hardwired at this point to want immediate results and see results with the least amount of effort, but I think we should all realise that convenience comes to us at a cost of something else. For me it comes at a cost of my personal growth, creativity, and decision making.

Maybe we should start seeing this from a different lens – less convenience is being more conscious, more aware, and present in our lives even when the outside world feels dragged and boring. So let’s slower the pace, live more consciously and appreciate the many colors and characters in the canvas called life!