In January, The Cut writer Kathryn Jezer-Morton dubbed 2026 the year of “friction-maxxing”. In the piece, she argues that as a society we have become too fixated on convenience, with boredom, effort and social awkwardness all seen as issues to be fixed rather than normal parts of life. And with the rise of AI, we’ve even started outsourcing the most fundamental parts of day to day life, from composing text messages, to deciding what to cook and planning our holidays. Friction-maxxing is the opposite of this mindset of ease, instead encouraging us to build up a tolerance for being inconvenienced by taking the less easy option.
“Convenience is helpful, but if everything’s frictionless you can lose mastery and purpose, which are key drivers of fulfilment,” explains Nick James, psychotherapist, family therapist & executive coach at The Soke.
