There is no doubting that technology has its benefits. Technology is creating opportunities like no other area of societal growth has. You can get an education very easily online with massive open online courses. You can order your groceries online, and you can get someone to drive you on demand. The number and type of activities a person can perform from anywhere is growing every day, and there seems to be no end in sight.
When a person finds a task that was difficult or boring for them to do that they can have performed by someone else, it is no doubt a joyful occasion. But just as nothing is free, neither is a person's time who helps you. Cars have yet to drive themselves, and robots can't get to the grocery store, yet apps like Instacart and Uber are becoming ever popular. Until we have a society completely run by robots, there will always need to be people performing these types of tasks.
Having this new technology, which allows people our age to get jobs as Uber drivers or on-demand shoppers, is great for people who need to make income on the side. But people who drive these cars and do the shopping are most likely not going to be the same people who pay to be driven and shopped for. So this leaves a society where others are at our service and most of these people would never drive or work enough to make full-time pay. The more societies grow, the more factors there are to deal with in living, and the growth of technology and on demand task outsourcing has created a problem now needs to be fixed.
So what can we do? The smallest, yet easiest thing, is to show gratitude the next time you need a ride home after a late night or get your groceries delivered and realize that simply by having access to resources, such as on-demand smartphone apps, means that you are luckier most people around the world. Spreading awareness of this issue will help you show this gratitude, as will a tip.
