Why efficiency might be killing what makes us human

Efficiency makes sense in systems.
In companies. In logistics.
In places built to produce and perform.

But somehow, it crept into our personal lives.
We track sleep. Count steps. Schedule deep focus.

And now slowly, we begin to expect of ourselves
what we once expected of machines.

But we’re not machines.
We’re messy. Slow. Emotional.
We forget things. We need time to feel.
To connect. To be uncertain for a while.

The danger isn’t just that we’re optimizing everything.
It’s that we’re forgetting why we were doing it in the first place.

Rituals weren’t efficient.
But they built belonging.
Pausing wasn’t efficient.
But it created presence.
Stories weren’t efficient.
But they helped us remember who we were.

What’s something slow, small, or ‘pointless’—that makes you feel most human?

(And if you worked out, but didn’t track the steps or calories…
did it still count?)