Of course regular people are seeing benefits to increased productivity. The question is whether these benefits are really benefits at all. The average adult spe

Of course regular people are seeing benefits to increased productivity. The question is whether these benefits are really benefits at all. The average adult spends over 12 hours a day consuming media [1]. It's worth noting that much of this is passive consumption like radio in the background, but active consumption is undeniably increasing as well, most notably smartphone usage. I think the problem is that the more optimized our society becomes, the less true the economic assumption of rational human behavior becomes. Google Maps, for example, saves me time looking at maps rather than doing browsing Hackernews. However, when I think about it rationally, I was no less happy spending a few minutes planning my route before a trip instead of browsing HN during that same time. [1] https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2020/the-nielsen-total-audience-report-august-2020/ https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2020/the-niels...