Navya Rao- Week 5: The Loss of Friction
Week 5: The Loss of Friction– 10/21/26 - 10/21 [5:30 PM].
Hypothetically, could I be able to live in the United States while only walking fifty steps every single day?
Let’s experiment for one day:
Before the experiment:
I have the amount of money that the average Californian citizen spends each day, subtracting transportation fees since I won’t be leaving my house, is around $182. This seems high–I know that I don't spend $182 every day–but for our little experiment, the extra money wouldn’t hurt.
From this, I subtracted $89, since that is the reported daily (burdening) cost of housing and utilities per day for the average Californian. This leaves me with $93.
For the sake of efficiency, I live in a studio apartment (already paid), where I will move my bed (already paid) to be adjacent with a corner near the front door and a window, which has an outlet on one of the walls.
My restroom is five feet away from me; my feet are size 8 in women’s shoes (9.5 inches). Therefore, each trip to the restroom is around four steps, assuming that there are four inches between every single one of my steps.
Experimental Day:
8 AM: I just woke up! Nothing crazy, I’ll be here the whole day. I walk to the restroom for a morning routine (-4 steps). And then I walk back to my bed (-4 steps). I’m going to need some water for the day–I instacart-ed a gallon of water (-$7).
9 AM: Still in bed, on my laptop, attending my public online school, from 9 AM to 3 PM. I’m feeling McDonald’s today. Let’s doordash!! I got pancakes! (-$18.50)
12 PM: Lunch break! I ordered Chipotle through DoorDash! (-$21.50) I watched Beta Squad while eating and then used the restroom (-8 steps).
3 PM: School just ended. I doomscroll on my phone, while it is charging for a whole hour.
6 PM: I decided to go to the mall–I mean Amazon–for an hour. I bought myself an extra pillow and stuffed toys (-$30).
7 PM: I need to stretch. On my bed, I do a couple of stretch exercises. Then, I buy dinner. It seems cold today, based on the cloudiness outside, so I’ll obviously order Malatown! (-$21.50)
8 PM: While eating Malatown, I watched How I Met Your Mother on Netflix.
9 PM: It’s time for bed soon! (See what I did there?) I shower (-8 steps) and get ready to sleep.
Post-Experiment:
Well, that is one boring day to describe.
But constant, accessible stimulation made it possible. In the same way, accessibility to a world of stimulation via rectangles of light affects the entire US. DoorDash and Amazon are two of many companies that have profited off of eliminating “good friction.” Good friction occurs when we expend extra time and effort to run any errand that often leads to interactions with new people around us, or funny situations that can be embarrassing but funny to tell, or in general–new things.
In my opinion, I think that increased accessibility and efficiency, which I partly love, is behind a large loss of connection between people. It’s a little scary how easy it is to avoid the real world and get lost in the media because of the new efficiency of online communication and purchasing. This effortlessness begins to bring a certain question to my attention: What could this mean for future generations?
Hi Navya! I love how you formatted your blog this time. Splitting your blog into three sections to show before, during, and after the experiment helped everything flow nicely. The use of a hypothetical experiment to make your point about how accessible people’s daily necessities are now was also effective and conveyed your ideas well. I love how you split up the experiment into the times because it made it easier to visualize. I’d never thought about how little you actually needed to walk in a day, so I found your experiment enlightening. I personally love staying at home, and that day in the experiment would literally be my dream rest day (except for the school part, of course). However, I totally agree that this accessibility is reducing the amount of human interactions we have in a day. Obviously, using Amazon and DoorDash is efficient and convenient, but meeting new people is even more important and is something we can’t do from the comfort of our homes. As much as I love lazing around at home, I find myself enjoying myself more when I’m out and about hanging out with friends, even if it’s for a competition or a homework assignment. For future generations, this accessibility would be more of a handicap, as I believe it is difficult to live life to its fullest when minimizing human interaction, no matter how introverted you are. Thanks for your insightful blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Navya, I really liked how you started with a question that seemed so obvious to be no. I know for a fact that most people that go to our school walk at least 500 steps in a day, and just 50 steps seems so unreal to me. In fact, most days it seems harder to walk 50 steps than 2000 steps, especially days when I decide to walk around with my friends during lunch. I did really like your three sectioned blog though. It was very engaging and made lots of sense, as it truly seemed like you were following the scientific process and documenting everything. The way you described the day, it seemed very simple to not get more than 50 steps in a single day. I really liked how you shifted from a very carefree tone on the day to a much more serious tone reflecting how the internet has both positively and negatively impacted American society.
ReplyDeleteHey Navya! I loved how you formatted your blog like audio-logs! This reminded me of the classic Hollywood depictions of scientists, more specifically Grace from Project Hail Mary. The short logs talking to one’s self give a sense of professionalism and leans into the stereotype. This also reminds me much of the recent term “chud” being thrown around much makes this much more prevalent and personal to the many of us who’s online a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe last conclusion I especially enjoyed as it gave meaning to the whole experiment and gave us something to think about. The final 2 paragraphs gave me the thought to connect this experiment back to my own experiences and how they align. The introvert part of me really resonated with your blog and really made me realize how great of an experience marching band was for me.
Hi Navya! What a creative idea for your blog; I really enjoyed reading this experiment! I definitely agree with you, with the increased efficiency and accessibility of different devices and apps, making our lives much easier by allowing us to move less. Like you described, doordash is an example of this—we can order food by just a click of a button. Another example is online shopping, where we don’t even have to get out of the house to go to the mall. I’ve seen several videos on YouTube where there are people who don’t leave the house at all and stay indoors all day, and they survive just fine by moving less than ten steps! The way you described your day during this experiment is also similar to my typical day. I usually don’t go outside often to run errands or to explore new areas around my house. Like you wrote, with the accessibility of everything around us, we truly don’t interact much with other people. On the typical weekend, I rarely talk to anyone new, let alone even leave the house sometimes. I believe this is a very important observation of our modern lives, and we are likely to become more and more lazier. Thank you for sharing your observations!
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