Convenience: a specious generalization and a specific rumination, joined by the caprices of my mind

Convenience is the problem.

When humans had to run after giraffes in a hunt or wander around all day gathering nuts and berries we had motivation; there was no option other than an active lifestyle (applying modern terms).  I doubt humans stood in place performing exercises in order to stay in shape.  They may have practiced the techniques used while hunting, but that wasn't because they felt they needed to lose a few pounds.

Now our food is brought to us from industrial farms on trucks and we only need make occasional trips to the supermarket, with the only exertion involving lifting the bags from the cart to the car, and then from the car in to the kitchen.  Heck, we can even place an order and have food brought to us without even having to leave and lift bags in and out of the car.  It's entirely possible to make a living with a sedentary lifestyle.  Heck, to make a living with a physically active lifestyle tends to indicate one makes less than some of those with the aforementioned sedentary kind.

And yet, somehow contemporary humans live much longer than our prehistoric ancestors, in large part to the work performed by those leading the less-active lives and the advances with science and medicine.

That, and we don't tend to be attacked by wild animals as much.

~

Convenience is the solution.

Back when I had a CD Walkman my method of listening to it while riding the train was as follows:  At the beginning of the trek I'd attach the headphones, start it playing whatever disc I had in it, then put it in a small case and set that down in a pocket of the bag down below the seat, by my feet.  The cord of the headphones was long enough to stretch from my ears to near the floor (at least when I was seated), but occasionally it would catch on something or I'd turn my head too far and either my head would be pulled back or the cord would come out (and I'd need to go and re-attach it).  If the volume of a song was too loud I'd have to reach down, pull the case from the bag, pull the device from the case, and adjust the sound.  If later songs were then too low… well, you get the idea.  If the train operator made an announcement and I needed to stop the disc, same deal (generally I could only remove the headphones quickly enough to hear).  If the disc playing reached the end, again it involved going down in to the bag.  And if the batteries on the player died, it involved taking everything out—including the CD itself, as the battery compartment was underneath there.

Now I have an iPod Nano that I keep in my shirt pocket.  If I need to change the volume I can swipe the wheel through the fabric without even taking it out.  If I need to pause, that too can be done through the shirt.  And there's always more songs than I can listen to in a commute.

I like that.

And I admit:  It's convenient.

I'm not saying iPods are perfect or anything, but generally I am pleased with the aforementioned aspects of their operation, especially relative to the corresponding functionality with portable CD players.

Bravo, technology. In this one particular instance.