This story in the WSJ reminded me of a recently published book, The Comfort Crisis. The author’s thesis isn’t that things are too hard; it’s that things have become too easy. I know, “first world problem” but if that’s where you live (and I’m pretty anyone reading this calls the first world, home), overly comfortable can tend toward spoiled.
Consider the victims of the recent Amazon Web Services cloud-computing outage. Oh the hardships and indignities subscribers suffered! The internet-connected cat kibble dispenser failed to dispense. The robotic vacuum sat idle despite its owner’s command to clean the muffin crumbs from the kitchen floor. Alexa and Siri were AWOL- lights went unlit and requests for weather, music, and news went unanswered, Ring doorbells didn’t.
Until I read about this outage, I was unaware that so many has been temporarily inconvenienced. Learning that people were honestly put out by having to feed the cat, flip the light switch, get out a broom or open the door to check the temperature was shocking. That anyone would willingly have their particular stripe of comfort crisis exposed by the WSJ was even more shocking. At least some of these folks admitted that they’d gotten lazy by depending on a connection to the cloud for so many basic daily needs. Wants seems a more accurate description than needs. Remember, they’re not the same.
I was feeling pretty smug until my own little comfort crisis put me in my place. The heater for the indoor pool where I swim is on the fritz. As one day became several, I ramped up from mildly annoyed to full-fledged victim despairingly quickly. How dare this thing break. How dare the replacement part not be in stock locally. How dare the supply chain from CA to NC be snarled. How dare the water temperature drop 10 degrees. Whoa! Who’s spoiled now? So I did what I hope the owners of the cats and Roombas et al. did. I realized I could endure some discomfort so I’m enduring and hopefully learning a lesson. Too easy can be as much of a problem as too hard.
We’d all prefer that the conveniences and comforts to which we’ve become accustomed wouldn’t fail us, but let’s call a fig a fig. An inconvenience, an annoyance, a glitch… sure. But crisis…not really.