Against Convenience

By: Gabe Bullard

Are we paying too high a price for 'easy'? When just about anything we want is a few taps away, why does it feel like something in our lives is missing?

From dinner delivered to your door in minutes, to relationships mediated by apps, we've always valued innovations that make life easier. But every convenience has a cost; if we don't pay it, someone else has to.

Against Convenience cuts through the noise, taking a hard look at the effect the services, apps and ideas that claim to simplify life are having on us as consumers and citizens: how do we spot convenience that is actually a false promise? How can we possibly live without them to live more sustainably? What real difference would it make?

An urgent call to re-examine our most 'convenient' choices, and the true cost of these to our minds, our peers, and our planet, award-winning journalist Gabe Bullard unpacks whether a slower, less convenient approach can, paradoxically, unlock a richer, more colourful existence.

Gabe Bullard is a Nieman Journalism Fellow and a journalist with twenty years of experience. He helped launch NPR’s newest talk show, 1A, then became Managing Producer of NPR’s Here & Now. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, 99% Invisible, and Smithsonian Magazine. He writes a column on technology for the media-focused magazine Nieman Reports, based at Harvard University. He is a consultant for radio shows and podcasts and he recently co-founded Together, Alone, an online magazine of television criticism.

© 2026 Gabe Bullard (P) 2026 DK Audio