Remember when you actually had to go to a grocery store? Or look up a word in a physical dictionary? Turns out, some people are actively choosing that slower, clunkier path now. It's called "friction-maxxing," and it's less about self-flagellation and more about reclaiming your brain.
The term, coined by New York magazine columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton, isn't some new productivity hack. It's a dry observation about a growing desire to push back against the relentless tide of tech-fueled convenience. Because apparently, we've reached a point where things are too easy, and it's making us, well, a little less human.
The Unexpected Cost of Seamless Living
Jezer-Morton noticed her own patience and capacity shrinking. All that convenience, she realized, wasn't actually making her life better or more meaningful. It was just removing the natural texture of existence: the boredom of waiting, the private thoughts that surface when you're not doom-scrolling, the quiet satisfaction of solving a problem without immediately asking AI for the answer.
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Start Your News DetoxThese aren't inefficiencies to be optimized away, she argues. They're vital connections to ourselves and the world. Spend too long glued to your phone, and that deeply alienating feeling starts seeping into other parts of life. Which, if you think about it, is both impressive and slightly terrifying.
This isn't about being inconvenient for the sake of it. It's about recognizing that the "friction"—the little bumps and waits and efforts—isn't a bug. It's a feature.
More Than Just a Digital Detox
Crucially, friction-maxxing isn't a high-performance habit or another routine to track. It actively pushes back against the efficiency culture that tech companies so eagerly promote, where the ideal person is a streamlined consumer of convenience, every interaction frictionless.
Jezer-Morton's concern goes deeper than personal habits. She points out that tech leaders aren't shy about their interest in shaping how we live and what we desire. Friction-maxxing is a personal, quiet rebellion against the assumption that you'd rather be a "user" than a person with a rich inner life.
The essay resonated because it gave a name to a feeling many people already had but couldn't quite articulate. It's the quiet suspicion that seamless convenience, while marketed as freedom, has actually limited something essential. There are no strict rules, no to-do lists. Just an invitation to think about your relationship with technology and your own experience, and maybe, just maybe, choose the long way home once in a while.
