I was thinking about this over the weekend – just how much extra effort it now takes to simply buy things.
We’re told technology makes life easier.
Faster. Smarter. More efficient.
But has it really?
🛒 Self-checkouts – Now you scan, bag, and pay.
No help. No conversation. No discount for doing the cashier’s job.
Just a robotic “Unexpected item in the bagging area” – then waving your arms like a lunatic to get someone to unlock it.
✈️ Booking travel – You spend hours comparing flights, reading fake hotel reviews, checking maps, transfers, luggage rules, and booking it all yourself.
Before? You called a travel agent. They did it for you.
🏦 Banking & insurance – Need support? You’re stuck in a chatbot loop, clicking drop-down menus until you give up or finally reach someone after 40 minutes – only to be told to “check the FAQ”.
📱 App-based everything – Food, taxis, haircuts, gym passes… you now need to download an app, create an account, fill in forms, verify your email, accept 87 terms, – no quick call to get it sorted.
🧾 Paperless billing – Marketed as eco-friendly, but really just means you have to dig through portals to find your own bills and download PDFs no one wants.
📞 Customer service – Replaced by silent inboxes, outsourced teams, and AI voice assistants that can’t understand you.
🚿 Smart homes – Want to turn the heating on? Better hope the WiFi isn’t down.
Want a hot shower? Update the app first.
The pattern?
Technology hasn’t always made life easier – it’s just shifted the workload onto us the consumer.
And while we do more for less…
Companies do less for more – and make more profit.
So it’s worth asking:
Have we all been duped into believing tech was here to help us, when really it’s just helping businesses cut costs?