Modern society has been increasingly equating progress with speed. Faster deliveries, smarter devices, instant access-convenience has become the dominant measure of development. Yet, as life accelerates, it often feels flatter. Effort is minimised, routines take over and meaning is quietly replaced by efficiency. What once required intention now requires only a tap. This raises a necessary question: Are we genuinely advancing, or simply outsourcing the very skills that once made us human? Ultra-fast delivery platforms capture this contradiction clearly. They are frequently praised for generating employment. However, employment numbers alone do not guarantee prosperity. In practice, labour is fragmented across a growing workforce, reducing individual earnings, stability and long-term security. It resembles dividing a single slice of bread among many people- no one’s hunger is satisfied. The speed promised to consumers is not without a cost.

 

That cost is transferred downward, borne by workers operating under strict time constraints and constant algorithmic monitoring. Delivery personnel are incentivised to prioritise minutes over safety, rest, and dignity. While these platforms are marketed as technological innovations, delivery systems themselves are not new. Historically, courier networks balanced speed with infrastructure, rest, and shared responsibility. What distinguishes the present is not delivery, but an obsession with immediacy-one that treats human limits as inefficiencies to be optimised away. Tasks that once required planning, memory, or patience are now effortlessly outsourced. Forgetting an essential item is no longer a problem to solve but a trigger to place another order.

 

Over time, this habitual delegation reduces cognitive engagement with daily life. This shift extends beyond individual habits into the structure of social life. Traditional urban living encouraged interaction through shared public spaces, local shops, and the unavoidable friction of waiting and negotiation. These small moments-brief conversations, minor inconveniences, unplanned encounters-formed the basis of community. Modern systems, however, are designed to eliminate friction entirely. When everything is immediate, nothing feels earned. Anticipation fades, effort loses value, and existence becomes transactional. Comfort is mistaken for fulfillment, while autonomy quietly erodes beneath systems designed to anticipate every need.

 

This critique is not an argument against technology, nor a romanticisation of hardship. Tools are not the problem, dependence is. Progress that merely accelerates consumption without strengthening human capability is not advancement, but displacement. Real progress lies not in making life endlessly faster, but in preserving friction that keeps individuals thoughtful and meaningfully engaged with the world. By Alina Ahmed