Efficiency Paradox in Everyday Life

Pursuing maximum efficiency and frictionless convenience across domains (relationships, culture, work, leisure) systematically erodes the small inefficiencies that produce meaning, skill accumulation, and social cohesion. As tasks and rituals are optimized away—via analytics, assistants, or product design—people may gain time and precision but lose durable sources of identity, mentorship, and civic trust. — If accepted, this idea reframes policy debates about AI, urban planning, education and platform design to weigh cultural and social value against narrow productivity gains and calls for institutional safeguards that preserve deliberate inefficiencies.