The Convenience Paradox

There is a fine line between what's hard and what's easy to do. I can say from experience that using the remote to turn on the TV is far easier than to stand up, walk and click the on button. Still, there is also an exception to this rule. It's the Convenience Paradox. This rule states that if something is too convenient, it will soon be inconvenient. This may be already discovered, but for me I just thought of it.


Let's go to an easy example so we shan't be having our brains bleed, shall we?

So for example are cars. With it, you get to have increased transportation. You can go in seconds what would take your hours by taking a cab. The Convenience Paradox is applied when too much people figure its that convenient that so much people take up a car and cover the road, and trapping everyone on the road, not even moving an inch. Heck, an old lady would get to the next square tile on the sidewalk before you'd even move an inch.

Another example. The Internet. Well, it's the well of infinite knowledge that apparently sends information about the entire world in your doorstep, no not even that, it reverently puts it on a silver platter for you to digest while being spoon fed. By the Internet. All it takes is a computer and an Internet provider and you got yourself the Internet, with all its greatness. Bad side? Everyone on Earth has it too and the strain it has on the net causes your split-second delivery system to stack up with every other demand a billion other people want it to do.

The Convenience Paradox. If it's that convenient, it soon will be inconvenient.

How do we know when something is that convenient?

Let's assess value, effort and availability. Let's split each into bars of 5. If it can grant you immortality (high value), takes a finger lift to accomplish (high effort) and can be found by opening your mouth and say "ahh" (high availability), it'd be that convenient.

How to balance it? With money. It's not convenient but people use it all the time but to be honest, that's only a short-term plan. There is no permanent solution, unless people want to do things the hard way, and they rarely do.