What We Lost When Errands Went Online

Every so often, I taste something that reminds me of the cherry-flavored lollipops my local bank used to give to children who came in with their parents. I never liked the taste, but I ate the candy anyway. I was a kid, dragged along on my parents’ chores, and it was a treat in an otherwise boring stretch of adult obligations.I assumed this would one day be part of my life, too: regular trips to deposit checks, buy groceries, fill prescriptions, pay for photo prints, return rented videos, and occasionally compare screw sizes in the hardware store. But in my high-tech adulthood, I can do all of these chores from home. Banking happens in an app. Groceries and just about anything else can be delivered. Video stores and photo labs are practically extinct in the age of camera phones and streaming. On the whole, I’m glad to give up balancing a checkbook and waiting in several lines every week. But as my conveniences pile up and tasks turn into taps on a screen, I increasingly feel like I’m missing something other than a treacly lollipop. Errands were a burden, sure, but they were a reason to leave the house. Without the obligation to go places, it’s easy to spend all day alone, switching...