I’m old enough to remember a time when TV dinners, clothes dryers, and even the Encyclopedia Brittanica represented the height of modern convenience. To my Depression- and war-hardened parents, the emergence of labor-saving products and services in the 1950s must have seemed like a godsend. For me and my boomer counterparts, on the other hand, it was just the beginning of a long, effortless march toward a world in which routine inconveniences would be eventually eradicated.
To hear naturalist Liv Dobbs tell it, we seem to be getting closer every day — and we may not enjoy the destination.
“The original idea with convenience was always to save time and get more out of less,” Dobbs writes in Medium. “It’s an appealing concept: to spend less time doing unfortunate, frustrating tasks and more time resting, having fun, or engaging in activities that feel more important. But, at a certain point, convenience can go too far. We may have already passed that threshold.”
Dobbs isn’t suggesting that we string up a clothesline in the backyard and joyfully hang up the wash, but she does point to everyday conveniences that often obstruct us from fully enjoying life. Meal-delivery services and packaged microwaveable entrees, for instance, can discourage us from trying a new recipe — or even preparing a favorite dish. The ease of online shopping may keep us from exploring the brick-and-mortar retail options in our own neighborhoods. And how often does the constant availability of our cars derail a pleasant walk or bike ride to a nearby coffee shop?
Reducing our daily encounters with what Dobbs calls “friction” — anything that obstructs our path to an effortless completion of a task — may seem like a salutary sign of progress, but it comes with some disturbing liabilities. We may, for example, find our skills eroding and lose the joy that comes with accomplishing a challenging project. She cites new research suggesting that those who embrace difficult tasks report “more work satisfaction, better study performance, fewer mental health issues, and lower rates of burnout.”
[Those] who embrace difficult tasks report “more work satisfaction, better study performance, fewer mental health issues, and lower rates of burnout.”
Nowhere is the cost of de-frictioning more evident than among those who have become reliant on ChatGPT and other large-language models to avoid taxing their brains. By taking on less cognitive load, Dobbs argues, AI users may find their “thinking muscles” gradually atrophying, their decision-making skills languishing, and their ability to grasp complex concepts weakening.
A 2025 study published in the journal Societies supports her argument. Researchers found that study participants who relied most frequently on AI tools exhibited higher levels of “cognitive offloading.” Lead study author Michael Gerlich, PhD, MBA, head of the Center for Strategic Corporate Foresight and Sustainability at the Swiss Business School, puts it thusly: “The reliance on AI-generated content can diminish users’ critical thinking abilities, as they may accept information and recommendations without thorough scrutiny.”
“The reliance on AI-generated content can diminish users’ critical thinking abilities, as they may accept information and recommendations without thorough scrutiny.”
Interestingly, Gerlich found that middle-age and older study participants were less likely than their younger counterparts to lean heavily on ChatGPT and other tools. As one of them noted, “I don’t want to lose my ability to analyze and make decisions independently.”
As Ashley Abramson reports in The Washington Post, the solution to this overabundance of convenience — and its effect on our cognitive abilities — is a move toward “friction-maxxing.” The idea is to reintroduce challenges into our daily lives that encourage us to regain some of the brainpower we may have lost to digital tools and other conveniences designed to make life more effortless.
Abramson cites research suggesting that people using search engines to answer questions exhibited lower rates of recall than those who sought answers through other avenues. Not surprisingly, similar results have been observed by users of ChatGPT and other AI tools, notes brain health scientist Marc Milstein, PhD, author of The Age-Proof Brain. “I hear people say they felt like their memories were better a few years ago, which is understandable in a world where everything is at our fingertips,” he tells the Post.
By continually challenging your brain, Milstein explains, you can build what’s known as cognitive reserve, helping to fend off neurological dysfunction.
Beyond that, University of Pennsylvania communications professor Emily Falk, PhD, author of What We Value, argues that the benefits of friction-maxxing extend beyond promoting cognitive health to enhancing overall quality of life. “People tend to think of friction as negative, but you can also view it as intention,” she says. “Friction can be positive if it causes you to take a step back and think about how you want to spend your life.”
I like to think of this embrace of friction as a collection of small mindshifts, like taking the stairs instead of an elevator or cracking open a book rather than switching on the TV. And, as Dobbs puts it, every little shift — mending a shirt, baking bread — can make a difference. “Even if a habit like this doesn’t stick or doesn’t work with our busy schedules, these little shifts can help us at least appreciate the effort.”
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