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Sustainable Minimalists

Excessively Convenient

Mar 12, 2024
52:26

There's convenience, and then there's *excessive* convenience. While some modern conveniences are indeed necessary and needed, the excessive ones can be detrimental to ourselves and society as a whole.

Items and services of convenience are often substitutes for supportive culture and connection. On today's show historian Jennifer Newton and I discuss how culture - and specifically excessively convenient, disposable culture - perpetuates itself; we also muse on what to do if the prevailing culture no longer "fits".

 

Here's a preview:

[5:00] How'd we get here? A brief history of the Convenience Industrial Complex in America

[10:00] Weak ties, strong ties, and 3 ways convenience culture reduces social connection

[23:00] The average American watches 4 hours of TV a day. What are the cultural implications?

[35:00] Passive and active ways to fight back against excessive convenience

 

Resources mentioned:

 

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