Although we are very complex creatures, and have come so far in our existence as humans, advances in technology have turned us into creatures of convenience.
When given the choice between driving to the store to buy tortillas, cheese, beef, tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole, or making a 2 minute detour through the Taco Bell drive through on the way home, most people will go with the convenient choice (crunch wrap supreme). Even though the price of the homemade Mexi-American food is probably half that of Taco Bell, and the quality is unmentionably greater, convenience is key.
I recently read an article from a couple years ago that illustrates this point to the extreme. It was about the new (at the time) iPhone 5s. One of the new features of the phone was the fingerprint scanner. The author talked about how nice it was going to be to not have to punch in a password or swipe to unlock. This is where we are as humans. We are thinking of ways to get rid of a 4 digit passcode, and the tedious step of swiping our phones because it takes up so much of our precious time.
Say what you will about Apple and fast food restaurants, but they are very good at what they do. On the outside looking in, it's easy to say how ridiculous things have become, or wonder why companies try so hard to persuade us with commercials. But even now I'm wiping off my greasy, Taco Bell fingers to type on my new Macbook Pro, which I bought because it conveniently syncs up with my iPhone 5s.
This isn't the first time I've had to shake my head and say, "They got me."
This shows that sometimes persuasion isn't much more than showing us something that will allow us to either have the same or a better result from less work on our part. Sad, but completely true.
ReplyDeleteFunny how far we'll go on our quest for convenience. Interesting how rhetoric doesn't even need to be spoken to be effective.
ReplyDeleteFunny how far we'll go on our quest for convenience. Interesting how rhetoric doesn't even need to be spoken to be effective.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about humans being creatures of convenience. Ever since we've been around, we've been looking for shortcuts to do things. That doesn't mean they were always the best ways, but they were the short ways.
ReplyDeleteMany companies (namely apple) even convince us that we are inconvenienced without their products. Not only does having their product make our life easier, but not purchasing them will hurt in the long run.
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