Over the last two decades, in society’s attempt to make the world an easier, more efficient and accessible place, our forefather’s have essentially cultivated a global epidemic. An outbreak so contagious, it has managed to infect an entire generation, forcing us all to take a step back and witness the damage it has caused. We are all suffering from a disease commonly known as laziness.

Gone are the days of waking up at five in the morning to plough the fields. Gone are the days of washing clothes with a brush and a pale. And gone are the days of re-heating with a convection oven. Today, with the advancement of technology, the world is literally at our fingertips. With the press of a button (or two), we have access to limitless resources that make up a vital part of our routine lives. However is this advancement truly a step forward? With this advancement, we subsequently began loosing the idea of self-motivation. And with it, generation after generation, we became a lazier people, leaving the children of tomorrow in waste of empty soda cans, dirty dishes and pizza boxes. But for now, we must bear the fruits of our labor, a world diseased by laziness.

Laziness has become more than a habit, picked up from years of doing no more than sleeping all day. It has become a disease in which, entire families think it is acceptable, such as in the US, to expend more energy per hour sitting in front of the TV, watching brain-less shows and eating their way into obesity than all physical activities combined . Which is why, in the last year, obesity has exceeded smoking as the number one cause of fatalities in MEDCs (more economically developed countries). As our fathers and mothers succumb to a sloth lifestyle in turn, we too become less-motivated. The reason: Our generation has become obsessed with shortcuts.

They are in abundance and evident in every facet of life. No longer do families have to worry about going to the grocery store, for the internet provides the diseased with online grocery shopping such as, netgrocer.com, shipping everything one needs directly to the front door with a simple click of the mouse. Needless to say, these grocery items are mostly ‘pre-wrapped, pre-shrunk, pre-cut and pre-packaged’ so that even if an attempt was made to cook dinner, it is no more of a task than heating up the food in the microwave. Again, we find more shortcuts to over-simplify our lives, leaving walking from the microwave to the sofa the only real chore. And yet, in today’s world you don’t even have to do that. In 2001, the segway, a two-wheeled automatic transporter, was invented. Designed to transport people faster and more effectively, technology has essentially robbed Homo sapiens of our most primal evolutionary accomplishment, the ability to walk on two feet. Is it true, that as a generation, we have become so lazy that the simple tasks of buying food and walking have become too much of a burden? It seems the answer is unfortunately, yet.

The disease however does not stop there, it has not only if infiltrated domestic life, but like wildfire, has spread to the business sector of society as well. The entertainment business has slowly been taken over by reality TV shows. This type of show does not require actors or even sometimes a set. Now consisting of almost 20% of the entire business, it is the epitome of laziness within the industry. The worst statistic however is that it has continued to increase in popularity with a 4% increase in the last year. Ultimately defining how truly lazy the world is, lazy people watching other lazy people be lazy on TV.

So as the world sits back in its lazy boy, witnessing how technology, the media and our everyday shortcuts plague our generation with laziness, why I none offering a solution? The answer is simple, because the solution is us. As a generation it is our job to stop this epidemic before it takes not only our lives, the generations of the future. The easier we make it on our selves now, the harder it will be to overcome later. The struggle is evident, yet the cure is too, so why can’t we reach out and take it? Probably because were just too damn lazy.