Conveniencism

colinchamp September 25, 2019 3 Comments

First there were the helpful and convenient items and appliances that supported our general health and wellness – just ask anyone who grew up in Arizona or Vancouver. Refrigerators kept real food – vegetables, eggs, meat, cheese – from going bad. Heat and air-conditioning kept us safe during extreme temperatures. But then, many more followed and we transitioned – we went from refrigeration to keep real food from spoiling, to cramming semi-real foods with chemicals and stuffing them to the gills with preservatives, to creating processed “food” that more closely resembles addictive drugs than any source of nutrition. Air conditioning kept us cool in the unbearable heat of the summer, now we rarely leave the house, trading immensely pleasurable and healthy activities like walks, hikes, gardening, and socializing for endless hours of television. And then there’s the internet… You get the point.

Conveniences started out as a beneficial and almost required aspect of our health and wellness to survive in an unruly world (though some will even argue with this), yet covertly and rather quickly turned on us. Like the typical and replayed sci-fi story of once helpful robots turning on their creators, once helpful conveniences have now switched sides, working against us to plague all aspects of our health, wellness, and frankly, our lives. The war was first waged behind the scenes, external to our homes and lives, but now extends through the deepest and most restrictive areas of our lives, into the darkest and deepest shadows. It haunts our workplaces while we sit stationary at a desk for unfathomable amounts of time turning to processed foods during those moments when we can no longer bear it. It even secretly destroys health research – within every diet and exercise study, convenience rears its ugly head, destroying exercise and healthy diet compliance by infecting those participants into thinking, “nah, not today.” While researchers attempt to test a certain diet and exercise regimen, they are nearly always testing compliance and the ability to actually get participants to follow the regimens. If they actually follow down to a “t” – something that rarely happens – then, and only then, can we actually test the intervention.

Conveniencism 2019

Imagine driving to the local sporting goods store for your son’s new leather baseball mitt. You can almost smell the fresh scent of leather emanating from the brown glove as you cruise there in your 1975 Ford Mustang. Life is great. You pull up to the store, circling around to find that closest spot. In doing so, you have a couple close calls with Mr. McGillycuddy, as he, a robust ninety years old with coke-bottle glasses and barely able to see over the steering wheel, backs out his boat-like Oldsmobile, nearly taking out anyone or anything in his path. Your blood boils as someone takes your open spot during your attempts to avoid McGillycuddy and keep the side of your Mustang intact. You finally find a close parking spot as your stress level reaches its peak and your blood begins to boil. You are finally there.

Now put that whole scenario into the back of your mind. Imagine the exact same situation, but let’s change it up a bit. As you pull into the parking lot, you purposefully park in the further spot in the back corner. This ensures your 1975 Mustang – actually, let’s make it a Shelby GT350 – doesn’t get scratched, as you keep her away from the paws of Mr. McGillycuddy. Actually, you park in the absolute farthest spot possible where other mere mortals wouldn’t dare venture as it would take them an additional 20 steps to get to the store – a preposterous proposition that only a fool would agree to. You then stroll through the parking lot, noticing the warmth of the sun as it beats down on your face and exposed arms. A warm breeze blows through your hair and, instead of boiling, invigorated blood pumps through your body and to your legs to feed your contracting muscles as they carry you into the store. Man do you feel alive. Man is life good.

Conveniencism pushes you to find that closest spot, but it may be your best move to park to park far far away in the back corner.

Ok, so perhaps I played up the second scenario a bit and a simple walk through the parking lot rarely elicits such a feeling of nirvana. Oftentimes it is raining out, and Mr. McGllycuddy almost runs you over as you walk past his car. Yet, several points here should be taken seriously. According to a 2017 study assessing 18,000 drivers from 100,000 locations across 8,700 cities in more than 100 countries, we are spending an average of 17 hours per year driving around searching for that closest parking spot. Of all Americans, New Yorkers fare the worst, spending 107 hours searching for spots. Yet, at the same time, most people feel as though they are not getting enough exercise, and around a quarter of the US population now uses activity trackers to help increase their amount of activity per day. Yet, despite this all, why are we spending so much time searching for the closest parking spot – and often, why are we even driving?

It sneaks into every aspect of our life. It is the undesired force that crawls deep within our soul, but rears its head externally and is difficult, if not impossible, for many of us to fight. We are busy. I mean, we do have several episodes of Game of Thrones to Watch before reruns of Sex in the City and Golden Girls (p.s. Golden Girls is the only show here worth its salt). Besides the waste in fuel costs and toll on the environment, the question that has driven me crazy over the past five years is, “Why”? Why drive around finding that close parking spot when it ends up costing you more time. Why not just drive to the back and walk? You know, get a little exercise, feel the breeze through your hair, and douse your skin with some vitamin D-stimulating sun rays.

The only answer to this simple question is convenience. Others, like Sherry Pagoto, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, question whether “the real reason we don’t exercise is our desire to avoid any experience of discomfort.” Whether it is avoiding discomfort or the religion of Conveniencism, once we step back and realize its power, its takes hold of you. Within how many areas of our lives do our inconsistent actions cause us to veer in the opposite direction of our goals and desires? Such directionless pull makes absolutely no sense, and it becomes obvious that we are merely being subjected to conveniencism’s hold – and society’s unrealized view that they are enslaved to it.

The next time you park in the spot closest to the entrance, take the elevator, complain about your diet yet buy premade and fast food, grumble about exercise but drive places where you can clearly walk, and spend your free time watching non-Golden Girls television shows, maybe it is time to look deeply within yourself and ask who has control? You or convenience?