There was a time in my life when I felt that my interests, preoccupations, location, and the people I saw every day changed so radically that I was effectively a different person every five years. This is hardly something unique to me; I was just surprised that it seemed to have discrete five-year periods.
In the last couple of months I’ve been noticing that the current period of my life appears to be marked by a handful of amenities that I never sought out but which would be unpleasant to live without now. They are without exception trivial and are no doubt diagnostic of a certain degree of privilege. Most have to do with reducing hassle, and their usefulness could maybe be explained by having moved to a big city. Anyway, here they are:
- Concierge who screens visitors.
- Heated underground garage.
- Car backing up camera.
- Car GPS/guidance/maps.
- Phone app to pay for parking garages and meters.
- Phone app to scan documents.
- Phone app to buy movie tickets.
- Reserved recliner seats in theater.
- TSA Precheck.
- Phone app to deposit checks.
You see? There’s nothing here that’s even remotely as important as the big two, people and art. Yet I find myself genuinely grateful for these trivialities every single time I use them, and they have changed my life for the better
Honorable mention:
11. Car remote autostart.
12. Speed limits indicated in car gps.
13. Car door unlocks by touching handle.
14. EZ-Pass.
Haha! I literally do not have a single one of these, though I am thinking of getting Mobile Passport. I am grateful for my Dropbox account so I don’t have to worry (as much) about backing up documents. And for my high speed internet : )
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