Technology is designed to remove friction. It makes communication easier, decisions faster and ordinary tasks less demanding. Much of that progress improves life.
But I have learned that not every difficulty is an obstacle to be eliminated. Preparing carefully for a conversation can deepen our respect for the person receiving it. Making something with our own hands can create attachment that instant delivery cannot reproduce. Keeping a commitment when it becomes inconvenient gives the commitment its meaning.
AI may help us avoid unnecessary effort. The challenge is recognising the effort through which patience, skill and responsibility are formed.
A life without needless difficulty may be better. A life without any meaningful effort may gradually become less capable of meaning.
Some effort is not the price we pay for meaning; it is part of what creates the meaning itself.