Technology solves physical problems but creates psychological ones

I recently read Jacques Ellul’s book on technology and society where he observes a simple and uncomfortable thing: every technological improvement reduces a physical burden but increases a mental one.

You get convenience and then a new form of stress. You gain efficiency and lose something human in the process.

Here’s how it shows up today:

Everything is delivered, automated or self-served.
But also fewer real interactions and fewer reasons to step outside your bubble.

Technology gives unlimited options: movies, partners, jobs, products, opportunities.
But unlimited choice creates decision pressure: the fear of choosing wrong, missing out or never finding the “best.”

Instant results become the norm. Waiting feels like failure. Slowness feels wrong.
We live inside a constant low-level urgency.

When tasks disappear, so does the feeling of contribution. Technology takes over effort but effort is often what made us feel purposeful.

Technology shifts problems but it doesn’t erase them

Ellul’s most important point is this:

Technology doesn’t solve human problems but It actually relocates them.

You stop walking because cars exist —> now you struggle with health and traffic.
You stop doing repetitive tasks because of automation —> now you question your role or value.
You connect instantly online — > now you deal with comparison, noise and you try to keep yourself consciously offline on purpose.

Human problems aren’t always technical, they’re emotional, relational, existential etc.

So does technology make us unhappy?

This is Ellul’s nuance: the danger is not technology itself, but the belief that it will give us something it cannot give. Happiness isn’t the next update, next feature, next shortcut or next optimization. In the end it’s not the intelligence of our tools that shapes our happiness but the emotional experience we have with them.