Tech doesn’t make our lives easier. It makes them faster

Technology does not make life easier under capitalism; it makes life faster and more crammed with stuff, because it is used to speed up production and consumption. The argument compares a mid-1700s hour-long walk to a meadow with a ten-minute drive two centuries later, noting that the saved time is absorbed as the meadow is paved into a mall and the commute stretches to 30 miles at 30mph. It also notes that parts of London are now cashless, where cash feels inconvenient, while people in Germany and South Africa still find it normal.