Don't try to optimise your life [loc-004C]

I made a post on Mastodon that seemingly did numbers.

I don't know who needs to read this, but: there's value in doing things slowly, in your own way. Trying to maximise efficiency in your life is a fool's errand, and will just hurt you. Take the longer route with the nicer scenery. Write that email by hand instead of asking a bot to do it. Spend some time to read and not just skim. Take your time and cook a nice meal for yourself. Pursue little hobbies, even if you're not good at them. Don't compare yourself to others, don't focus on improving. Just enjoy every activity for itself. Don't let the world convince you that you always have to be optimising yourself. Just be sub-optimal and happy!

The reason I wrote this is because I read a thread on X (the everything app) which made my blood boil somewhat. Academics were saying that the reason they train students rather than just do research themselves with dreaded bots doing all the legwork is that there's value in the apprenticeship, in training a person. To me, that's a bad argument because it presupposes both that we should be prioritising efficiency above all else (definitely disagree) and that working with AI is more efficient in the long run than working with a student (also disagree but falsifiable).