As time marches on, the simple things in life get more and more convenient. At least if you live in the “first world”, especially in a city like San Francisco.
Yes, this will be a post about the extreme amount of laziness that one can partake in if you can afford it. No, I don’t think I’m entitled to it. I worked for it, I can live without it, but you can be damned sure I’m going to enjoy it when I can. They say that money doesn’t buy happiness, but I say that money absolutely buys convenience.
To give you an idea of the things that I have available to me at my fingertips in this day and age, in this city:
- My dry cleaning is picked up from a locker in my building, taken to a facility somewhere else in the city, and returned to a locker in my building a couple of days later. I don’t have to go to a dry cleaner, much less iron my own clothes — no one would want to see the outcome of that endeavor. Thanks LaundryLocker!
- I had Chinese food delivered for dinner last night from a place that doesn’t do delivery! I punch in our order in an app, and some dude on a scooter goes to the restaurant to order for me, wait for the food to be ready, and then drives it on over to me. Thanks Postmates!
- A personal stylist in Chicago picked out some new clothes for me, based on my measurements, boxed them up, and shipped them out to me to try on. I keep what I like, I return what I don’t want or doesn’t fit, and I only get charged for the things I keep. Thanks TrunkClub!
- I received a couple of checks in the mail. I deposited them into my bank account using my phone, without having to go to an ATM or a bank branch. Thanks WellsFargo mobile app!
- I did leave the apartment, driving around San Francisco for some things my wife had to take care of today. Whenever we needed to park on the street, I didn’t need to scrounge around for quarters for the parking meters. I was able to pay for my parking meters just by punching a bunch of numbers into my phone. Thanks PayByPhone!
That’s just in the past 24 hours. And that’s just barely scratching the surface of what’s available to me.
We truly live in an amazing time for being lazy, and I for one am grateful for it.
Jason Nassi 
So is this a good thing or a bad thing?
It’s a GREAT thing!
That wasn’t really a question 😉 For people like us, some of the time it is a very good thing, for others it is not a good thing, but more importantly the services you describe I can see are very good, but there are many services out there that are not good. They encourage laziness, they encourage people not to interact, they put good people and services out of business ultimately reducing the choice and quality. For example never forget the members of the human race are social beasts so things that encourage people not to interact with the rest of society will ultimately feed the demise of many… This for example is the two edged sword of social media like Facebook… another rather handy app to allow people to stay in touch with friends from afar… This is great for people like you and I, you being in San Francisco and me being on a little island in Malta.. but I have seen this technology of ours used between two people in the same room.. sitting there all quietly with no one else around, just texting each other.
I personally, being one of those that can afford to have the little devices and gadgets, have spent the last two weeks where I went out of my house only once because I didn’t need to otherwise.. Yes I love it, I can work at my desk, I can order food, drink, do the shopping etc, but I have no interaction with anyone else face to face except my with my girlfriend, whom is currently in the final stages of a Uni course and therefore I have only seen her on that one occasion I went out (she doesn’t live with me)… That cannot be healthy…