the convenience of modern living is nothing short of amazing. As I write this, my phone is wirelessly sending some of the greatest hits of the 18th century (Bach, in case you want to know) to my portable speaker. I could use that same device to, in moments, get a car to pick me up, have food delivered to my house, or start chatting with someone on a dating app. Even for humans of the recent past, this technology would, to quote Arthur C Clarke third lawindistinguishable from magic.
The fact that, as a culture, we seek out and celebrate such shortcuts is understandable. They take much of the tedium out of life, make it easier to have fun, and save us time and energy. That said, most people are able to intuit that comfort has a darker side.
Before we get into that, it’s important to understand why comfort is so seductive. We often resist doing the very things we need to do to progress; whether it’s our taxes, the report due next week or a training session. Behind every well-intentioned plan hides this dreaded feeling of inertia. Why is this resistance – and our corresponding appetite for tranquility – such an integral part of our constitution?
In this case, insights from evolutionary psychology (particularly the idea of “evolutionary mismatch”) can help. Evolutionary mismatch is the notion that we evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and that, while our circumstances have changed dramatically, our brains and bodies have not. He says that our instincts are often terribly incompatible with our environment.
Looking at the problem through this lens, a certain degree of inherent lethargy and desire to take shortcuts makes a lot of sense. For hunter-gatherers, food, and therefore energy, was scarce and not constantly available. Early humans were also vulnerable to things like inclement weather and predators. Surviving meant not using our energies in flagrant or irresponsible ways.
Stamina was a necessary counterweight to the intense bursts of activity that marked the lives of hunter-gatherers: searching for food in pouring rain or running to escape a dangerous animal. It’s the reason we still ask ourselves, “Do I really have to do this? Shouldn’t I save my energy? People who tended to stay sheltered during a snowstorm, when prospects for food were low, were more likely to live and pass on their genes to the next generation. And since those guys are our ancestors, we have inherited that disposition.
Since then, of course, innovation has changed things radically. We have manipulated technology and our environment, at least in part, to serve our natural instinct to conserve energy. The question is: what can we lose if we follow our inclination to prioritize comfort and convenience? Few people would argue with the fact that, say, washing machines, trains and telephones have freed us to lead fuller and more creative lives. As I said at the beginning, more advanced technologies certainly also have their pleasures and opportunities. But there is evidence to suggest that contemporary hyperconvenience can also make our lives more difficult, not less.
Take, for example, the rise in depression and anxiety that some have linked to smartphones and social media. Likewise, the explosion of metabolic problems in recent decades that can be directly attributed to sedentary lifestyles and dependence on convenient, calorie-rich but nutrient-poor foods. Levels of loneliness have become so problematic that the UK has had a “minister for loneliness” since 2018. One could argue that such loneliness simply would not be possible without the technologies, from communications to home entertainment, that allow people live that way. separate lives in the first place.
In my work as a psychotherapist, I have seen how leaning too heavily on a coping mechanism can amplify the problem it was intended to alleviate. The sense of security that comes from staying home can make going out later more anxiety-inducing. The relief of avoiding an awkward conversation with your spouse makes that conversation even more difficult to have later. Using a dating app to avoid the awkwardness of flirting only weakens your social skills over time. Continually choosing the right path diminishes your ability to face inevitable difficulties. And, from an evolutionary perspective, some measure of discomfort is as crucial to our survival as rest and relaxation. Our ancestors did not survive simply by being lazy, but through a combination of playing it safe and taking sensible risks: for example, overcoming the pain and effort of leaving a family home to reap the rewards of somewhere closer. food sources and better protected from the elements.
Modern hyperconvenience is a kind of deal with the devil. It is seductive because it appeals to our instincts, but it surreptitiously exhausts us. It has made it easier to get ahead, but in many ways more difficult to achieve true success. Human flourishing and happiness are not just a matter of subsistence, but also depend on growth, dynamic problem-solving, and solidarity through hardship.
Much of my work with my younger clients has focused not on deep psychological conflicts or the impact of trauma, but on addressing basic life tasks, such as making friends, managing work stress, or going to new places. What they repeatedly tell me is that the discomfort of such tasks is overwhelming and, as a result, their worlds are shrinking.
Ideally, today’s conveniences should serve as support systems that help us move toward worthwhile goals, whether that’s exercising for better health, building a career, raising a family, making a work of art, or teaching and mentoring. to others. Meeting these objectives always involves some type of inconvenience, but it is this difficulty itself that shapes and develops our character.
In the technological world we have created, sometimes we must make a conscious effort to act against our instincts. As a culture, we must remember – and remind our young people – that while comfort feels good in the moment, our ability to adapt and overcome challenges is also part of our evolutionary heritage and is fundamental to the adventure of life.
Dr. Alex Curmi is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist in training and presenter of The thinking mind podcast.
Additional reading
Good reasons to have bad feelings: Perspectives from the frontier of developmental psychiatry by Randolph M Nesse (Penguin, £10.99)
Behave: The Biology of Humans at its Best and at its Worst by Robert Sapolsky (Vintage, £12.99)
The anxious generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Driving an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (Allen Lane, £25)