Paying for all the little things in life

There is a hilarious video clip featuring comedian Louis C.K. called “Everything is amazing and nobody’s happy”. In the clip, he rants about people’s general lack of appreciation for the wonders of the modern world. Instead of being grateful for what we have, we are upset that things aren’t faster, bigger, better.

I’ve been thinking about that video lately, in the wake of seemingly endless commentary about Facebook. I don’t disagree that Facebook has done some egregious things, and they need to have more respect for the privacy of the hundreds of millions of people who have made them so huge. They’ve been wrong, and they need to fix it. However, I can’t help but feel like something is getting lost in the outrage here.

In the few years that I have been using Facebook, I have…

• Reconnected with dozens of cool, interesting people from many different stages of my life, who I would never have been in touch with otherwise
• Seen photos of old and new friends, their families, their adventures and their homes
• Shared photos of same, including my own
• Found a picture of myself with my Dad from a newspaper article in 1975, when I was a year old
• Learned of the untimely deaths of two of my high school classmates
• Witnessed countless funny, touching and fascinating events in the lives of people around the world
• Successfully promoted the HIV and breast cancer peer support non-profit I volunteer for
• Read hundreds of interesting articles that my friends posted links to, including awesome personal blog posts that I certainly would never have found on my own
• Given and received travel advice
• Planned parties
• Heard about interesting local events
• Picked up tasty recipes
• Generally appreciated the often wonderful and occasionally troubling complexity of humanity

If you were unfamiliar with Facebook (in other words, if you were an alien from outer space, or someone who was raised in the forest by a pack of wolves), you might ask me, “how much did you pay for this amazing service that has allowed you to do so much?” And if I told you that it was completely free of charge, well, you probably wouldn’t believe me. You’d probably look at me like I was crazy.

I admit I am sensitive to this issue, working as I do for a technology company that offers a really handy travel service for free. We recently had the audacity to make a little money (you know, to stay in business) by putting ads into our (free) application for the iPhone. And oh, the outrage! People complained bitterly. One of my co-workers suggested we respond with this…

In the latest version of our app, we were going to charge everyone $10 to use our amazing software that saves you time and makes your life easier. But, at the last minute, a generous sponsor stepped forward and said that because it likes you so much, and likes what we’re doing, it’s footing the bill for you. So instead of paying $10, you can continue to use this amazing software that we’ve spent 3 years building so that you can have a more convenient, easy going life. Every once in a while you’ll see an ad, but otherwise it’s exactly the same as the last version.

And then there was the comment I ran across today at work, from someone who uses our free software but is upset that we also have a paid version with a few (expensive for us to develop and deliver) enhancements. The comment was, and I quote…

“I am really tired of paying for all the little things in life!!”

When did people start expecting everything in life to be handed to them for free? Is this a toxic byproduct of the “everything you could imagine right at your fingertips right now” information age? The ugly entitlement that grows from always having clean water, kitchens and restaurants full of food, toilets that flush and people who come collect garbage every week? The unsightly evolution of the conspicuous consumption of the post-war generation?

People, we are beyond lucky to have all the “little things in life” available to us. It’s a privilege we should all be happy to pay a few dollars for.

I once read that if you have change in your pocket and a roof to sleep under at night that you are wealthier than half the people in the world. Hop a flight to New Delhi and have a look at the fly covered babies and lepers who are starving on the streets. Head over to Darfur and stand on the bloody edge of a mass grave. Take a trip to Nigeria, where children get gang raped and villages burned to the ground by oil companies who want to drill where they live. Visit Iraq, the Gaza Strip, Afghanistan. Are you sure you want to complain about paying a few dollars for some extra technology that helps you manage your busy, productive life? Are you sure you care that much that Facebook used some of your personal information to serve ads to your profile page?

Our modern world has a lot of potential if we can all keep some perspective. I really hope this sense of entitlement is a temporary phase, like toddlers not wanting to share their toys. Everything really is amazing for those of us who are fortunate to live in this world of Facebook and email and photo sharing and Skype and VoIP and the countless other things we didn’t know would ever exist 10 years ago, or 10 months ago, or sometimes even 10 minutes ago. What do you say we start being happy?

And, if you want to check out the Louis C.K. clip, watch it (for free!) right here.