I like this post, this idea, very much. What comes too easily, does not bring value.
We can see the destructive effects of social media newsfeeds, the tools which have removed friction from the process of broadcasting the news. Instead of more reliable information, we are drowning in a deluge of disinformation. A remedy: read selected papers and magazines, even online, but from the sources which provide professional, fact-checked journalism.
This is such a good point Jacek, I hadn't thought of mass media as frictionless before -- but now you say it it's so obvious! I wish I had included this in the essay.
As an illustration, a few years ago I did a masters in international development here in the UK. Our lecturer asked for a show of hands who reads the newspapers? I was the only one who put my hand up. Everyone else said they got the news through social media. It was a stark revelation for me: this was a room full of young people who you would expect to read newspapers and journals voraciously -- but none of them did! And if they weren't reading the respected media sources, then the young general public are not either. It is very worrying if the people making international policy in the future are addicted to Social media and only getting their "news" through it. Even more troubling is that the news on social media tends to be click bait, outrage-driven, and highly biased. Not good at all for policy making and terrible for forming an individual into a wise, nuanced being.
The online element particularly rings true for me. I like to think I consume in a relatively small way, but I am very easily swayed into buying books and eBay provides an immediate source which definitely causes me to over consume. The friction of finding a book in a shop, especially as many of the books I seek are older and sourced secondhand, would reduce my consumption considerably I'm sure. I have deleted much of my online presence and this is the piece that I am now working on breaking free from.
Indeed, I know this all too well Steve, as I am also seeking mainly older and secondhand books. When I realised I was spending too much on eBay I decided to set a monthly budget which has helped.
But now that my curiosity is piqued, would you mind sharing what second hand books you are after?
It tends to be that I read somebody who I respect and they point me to others who have inspired them. So I go seeking those source materials as well. Currently top of my list is Lewis Mumford, but having read your book essay I was off looking for one or two of those too. I think I turn to more reading when I should be turning to new action instead, but I do love a bookshelf.
Practically, I restore typewriters, brew mead, and whittle my pipes with hand tools as much as possible (though I do use a power drill for screwing holes and a drill press for precision enough to be useable). I write letters by fountain pen and enjoy the supremacy of cash (though I confess I forgo too much the latter).
Thanks Garrett, this a is a great list of friction.
I have been using a fountain pen more often too, and it is amazing how pleasurable a tool this is and how it slows you down so you think more carefully about what you are writing.
This is soooo good! I have recently “downgraded” from an iPhone to create more friction and break bad habits. I’ve been contemplating cancelling amazon prime and Costco memberships to avoid overspending on a credit card and buying more than I need because of ease and promise of rewards for spending. I definitely want to lean into buying local, skipping the supermarket.
The pursuit of the frictionless life is a zero-sum game. We simply exchange external friction for internal. Physical resistance (labor, training, a challenging hobby, even an orange peel) produces an internal satisfaction. But the inverse is not true. We don't see that the greater the ease, the greater the satisfaction. It's the opposite. The less we have to work for something, the more hollow it feels. The cheap dopamine of the infinite scroll, the pills that make us skinny, the AI that replaces skill—these will all result in a deep unsettling of internal satisfaction and the external drive to achieve.
One of the reasons I love friction as a core analogy in this whole man vs. machine conversation is something you touched on very lightly in saying it’s hard to walk on ice. Friction is one of those forces by which we gain leverage - and a frictionless environment ensures that the forces which act upon us meet as little resistance as possible. I’m not suggesting this is necessarily an explicit design decision (though surely for some it is). Friction is good not simply because it limits ourselves, but because it also presses back on the forces acting upon us, whether they be the human propensity for gluttony or the inhuman press of the machine.
Oh yes, the supermarket. Years ago, one of my BFFs (who is a small farmer) and I had a large library of “Supermarket Rants” that culminated in our mutual disdain for the Charmin Megaroll. Beyond even the food system problems, it represented the full toxicity of the problem - our culture was too lazy to even change the toilet paper roll. We have both chilled out a lot since then, but your idea of “frictionless” stirred up a big smile and I sent him this post. 💜🙏🏽
I was just thinking the other day that I should stop going to the self checkout lanes. Thanks for the reminder!
I’m always happy to see others speak up against AI. I don’t understand why I should waste my time reading or engaging with something no human expended thought or energy on. If a human hasn’t put in the work, where is the value to me?
Comfort and convenience are easy to make profits on. Whole foods, meat especially, have small to zero margin. Adding friction, using [durable] hand tools, pots, pans, plates, metal/wood/ceramic serving and eating utensils reduces opportunity for profits.
As long as "growth" is prioritized at the state level, medium to high friction lifeways require individual action. We have to do it ourselves, because business and government will not help.
Supermarkets illustrate this issue perfectly. You don't see any fresh whole foods right at checkout, do you? It's all ultra-processed, eat-in-the-car, add-on crap. Aisle after aisle of boxes, cans, bottles etc,...with a lot of expensive color, marketing hype and deceptive ingredients labels on the outside. The percentage area of supermarkets dedicated to whole and fresh foods shrinks every year.
Can't wait for business or leadership. Individuals, families and communities have to drive the changes we want.
Completely agree John, and this "Can't wait for business or leadership. Individuals, families and communities have to drive the changes we want." I believe is absolutely key. It is down to us individuals to take the lead here (as it is in many other areas of life) too many of us have grown too dependent and too expectant on the state and it has lead us into all sorts of trouble.
Hadden, glad I found your writing here. Your essay reminded me of Ralph Borsodi and his idea of the “conquest of comfort.” I also keep seeing the image of borderlands and edges when thinking about friction. That’s where the interesting things happen, in nature as in our own lives. Alas, most people prefer to stay in the safe middle, outsourcing their lives.
That is a brilliant point about the borderlands and edges Micha. We spent so much time thinking about these places on my ecology degree - they are often the most biodiverse habitats.
And I will have to go and look up “conquest of comfort”. Borsodi is a writer who appears in the footnotes of things I am reading. Where would you suggest starting with him
Thanks, Hadden. I’ve read only two of his books so far: This Ugly Civilisation and Flight from the City. Both well worth it. The latter’s shorter and a great place to start. Borsodi makes a case for a decentralised, agrarian life built around the kind of friction you've written about.
Most excellent post, Hadden! Because of my senior ‘status’, I have literally seen the massive changes in grocery stores over my lifetime! As a child in the 1960’s, I remember when iceberg head lettuce was the new kid in the produce department. Bananas, apples and oranges were the only fruit. People grew and preserved their own food stuffs or you didn’t have it. I have watched the ‘marketing and industrialization’ of the American grocery industry (and fast foods places) and it saddens and sickens me. I literally wouldn’t purchase 99.9% of what’s in these stores now. As you know, I grow my own and just yesterday I spent 5 hours cleaning up and winterizing my garden beds. The physicality of it feels wonderful! I do shop locally as much as possible or if I go online, I find small businesses with good ecological practices. And it can all add up if you pay attention. But I must confess, that purchasing through ‘one click’ is way too easy. I’ve had to learn to make myself wait at least 24-48 hours before I buy something. Less is more in this consumer driven maelstrom.
Before we all turn fluid! Smile. Ecology and food chains go together. I can see links also to the Turner Award of last week, and those pipelines in Alberta?
I forgot to mention your landscape looks a mellow Arcadia. May it be so, and there be more of them. Can we promote an Arcadia award? (Your Turner Award is rather brilliant, if I may say so.)
I like this post, this idea, very much. What comes too easily, does not bring value.
We can see the destructive effects of social media newsfeeds, the tools which have removed friction from the process of broadcasting the news. Instead of more reliable information, we are drowning in a deluge of disinformation. A remedy: read selected papers and magazines, even online, but from the sources which provide professional, fact-checked journalism.
This is such a good point Jacek, I hadn't thought of mass media as frictionless before -- but now you say it it's so obvious! I wish I had included this in the essay.
As an illustration, a few years ago I did a masters in international development here in the UK. Our lecturer asked for a show of hands who reads the newspapers? I was the only one who put my hand up. Everyone else said they got the news through social media. It was a stark revelation for me: this was a room full of young people who you would expect to read newspapers and journals voraciously -- but none of them did! And if they weren't reading the respected media sources, then the young general public are not either. It is very worrying if the people making international policy in the future are addicted to Social media and only getting their "news" through it. Even more troubling is that the news on social media tends to be click bait, outrage-driven, and highly biased. Not good at all for policy making and terrible for forming an individual into a wise, nuanced being.
Great post Hadden. It has some similarities with what I wrote about modernity being about straight lines and flat earth, making life effortless and predictable. https://gardenearth.substack.com/p/the-blessing-and-the-curse-of-the
The online element particularly rings true for me. I like to think I consume in a relatively small way, but I am very easily swayed into buying books and eBay provides an immediate source which definitely causes me to over consume. The friction of finding a book in a shop, especially as many of the books I seek are older and sourced secondhand, would reduce my consumption considerably I'm sure. I have deleted much of my online presence and this is the piece that I am now working on breaking free from.
Indeed, I know this all too well Steve, as I am also seeking mainly older and secondhand books. When I realised I was spending too much on eBay I decided to set a monthly budget which has helped.
But now that my curiosity is piqued, would you mind sharing what second hand books you are after?
It tends to be that I read somebody who I respect and they point me to others who have inspired them. So I go seeking those source materials as well. Currently top of my list is Lewis Mumford, but having read your book essay I was off looking for one or two of those too. I think I turn to more reading when I should be turning to new action instead, but I do love a bookshelf.
Practically, I restore typewriters, brew mead, and whittle my pipes with hand tools as much as possible (though I do use a power drill for screwing holes and a drill press for precision enough to be useable). I write letters by fountain pen and enjoy the supremacy of cash (though I confess I forgo too much the latter).
Great piece, man.
Thanks Garrett, this a is a great list of friction.
I have been using a fountain pen more often too, and it is amazing how pleasurable a tool this is and how it slows you down so you think more carefully about what you are writing.
This is soooo good! I have recently “downgraded” from an iPhone to create more friction and break bad habits. I’ve been contemplating cancelling amazon prime and Costco memberships to avoid overspending on a credit card and buying more than I need because of ease and promise of rewards for spending. I definitely want to lean into buying local, skipping the supermarket.
The pursuit of the frictionless life is a zero-sum game. We simply exchange external friction for internal. Physical resistance (labor, training, a challenging hobby, even an orange peel) produces an internal satisfaction. But the inverse is not true. We don't see that the greater the ease, the greater the satisfaction. It's the opposite. The less we have to work for something, the more hollow it feels. The cheap dopamine of the infinite scroll, the pills that make us skinny, the AI that replaces skill—these will all result in a deep unsettling of internal satisfaction and the external drive to achieve.
Appreciate your thoughts on this!
One of the reasons I love friction as a core analogy in this whole man vs. machine conversation is something you touched on very lightly in saying it’s hard to walk on ice. Friction is one of those forces by which we gain leverage - and a frictionless environment ensures that the forces which act upon us meet as little resistance as possible. I’m not suggesting this is necessarily an explicit design decision (though surely for some it is). Friction is good not simply because it limits ourselves, but because it also presses back on the forces acting upon us, whether they be the human propensity for gluttony or the inhuman press of the machine.
Oh yes, the supermarket. Years ago, one of my BFFs (who is a small farmer) and I had a large library of “Supermarket Rants” that culminated in our mutual disdain for the Charmin Megaroll. Beyond even the food system problems, it represented the full toxicity of the problem - our culture was too lazy to even change the toilet paper roll. We have both chilled out a lot since then, but your idea of “frictionless” stirred up a big smile and I sent him this post. 💜🙏🏽
I was just thinking the other day that I should stop going to the self checkout lanes. Thanks for the reminder!
I’m always happy to see others speak up against AI. I don’t understand why I should waste my time reading or engaging with something no human expended thought or energy on. If a human hasn’t put in the work, where is the value to me?
Comfort and convenience are easy to make profits on. Whole foods, meat especially, have small to zero margin. Adding friction, using [durable] hand tools, pots, pans, plates, metal/wood/ceramic serving and eating utensils reduces opportunity for profits.
As long as "growth" is prioritized at the state level, medium to high friction lifeways require individual action. We have to do it ourselves, because business and government will not help.
Supermarkets illustrate this issue perfectly. You don't see any fresh whole foods right at checkout, do you? It's all ultra-processed, eat-in-the-car, add-on crap. Aisle after aisle of boxes, cans, bottles etc,...with a lot of expensive color, marketing hype and deceptive ingredients labels on the outside. The percentage area of supermarkets dedicated to whole and fresh foods shrinks every year.
Can't wait for business or leadership. Individuals, families and communities have to drive the changes we want.
Completely agree John, and this "Can't wait for business or leadership. Individuals, families and communities have to drive the changes we want." I believe is absolutely key. It is down to us individuals to take the lead here (as it is in many other areas of life) too many of us have grown too dependent and too expectant on the state and it has lead us into all sorts of trouble.
Hadden, glad I found your writing here. Your essay reminded me of Ralph Borsodi and his idea of the “conquest of comfort.” I also keep seeing the image of borderlands and edges when thinking about friction. That’s where the interesting things happen, in nature as in our own lives. Alas, most people prefer to stay in the safe middle, outsourcing their lives.
That is a brilliant point about the borderlands and edges Micha. We spent so much time thinking about these places on my ecology degree - they are often the most biodiverse habitats.
And I will have to go and look up “conquest of comfort”. Borsodi is a writer who appears in the footnotes of things I am reading. Where would you suggest starting with him
Thanks, Hadden. I’ve read only two of his books so far: This Ugly Civilisation and Flight from the City. Both well worth it. The latter’s shorter and a great place to start. Borsodi makes a case for a decentralised, agrarian life built around the kind of friction you've written about.
Most excellent post, Hadden! Because of my senior ‘status’, I have literally seen the massive changes in grocery stores over my lifetime! As a child in the 1960’s, I remember when iceberg head lettuce was the new kid in the produce department. Bananas, apples and oranges were the only fruit. People grew and preserved their own food stuffs or you didn’t have it. I have watched the ‘marketing and industrialization’ of the American grocery industry (and fast foods places) and it saddens and sickens me. I literally wouldn’t purchase 99.9% of what’s in these stores now. As you know, I grow my own and just yesterday I spent 5 hours cleaning up and winterizing my garden beds. The physicality of it feels wonderful! I do shop locally as much as possible or if I go online, I find small businesses with good ecological practices. And it can all add up if you pay attention. But I must confess, that purchasing through ‘one click’ is way too easy. I’ve had to learn to make myself wait at least 24-48 hours before I buy something. Less is more in this consumer driven maelstrom.
Before we all turn fluid! Smile. Ecology and food chains go together. I can see links also to the Turner Award of last week, and those pipelines in Alberta?
I forgot to mention your landscape looks a mellow Arcadia. May it be so, and there be more of them. Can we promote an Arcadia award? (Your Turner Award is rather brilliant, if I may say so.)
Thanks Phil, it does feel like arcadia at times!
Great article. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned here is getting married and having children. There is nothing more frictional or valuable.
It’s definitely a point.
But I think of all of the OTHER lovely things that I can do with my time by avoiding unnecessary friction in my daily routine.
I can spend time with people I love or ponder the meaning of life or whatever.
Sometimes what comes too easily is freedom .