“**Convenience, in other words, makes things easy, but without regard to whether easiness is truly what’s most valuable in any given context**. Take those services—on which I’ve relied too much in recent years—that let you design and then remotely mail a birthday card, so you never see or touch the physical item yourself. Better than nothing, perhaps. But sender and recipient both know that it’s a poor substitute for purchasing a card in a shop, writing on it by hand, and then walking to a mailbox to mail it, **because contrary to the cliché, it isn’t really the thought that counts, but the effort—which is to say, the inconvenience. When you render the process more convenient, you drain it of its meaning**.” --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[growth]], [[relationships]], [[priorities]], [[personal-values]], [[self-control]], [[convenience-culture]] **Source** -- [[202410130434 - B - Four Thousand Weeks]] **See Also** — [[20241014130900 - AtN - Consider the potential of friction as a feature]]