About a year ago I stepped off a plane into Seattle summertime ending a five month study abroad stint in Viña del Mar, Chile. Eleven months later, I still catch myself wide-eyed and stunned by the grandeur of American society. For me, it took that of out-of-country experience to really appreciate and analyze the privileges that we enjoy as citizens of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. Cell phones, personal automobiles, and wireless Internet are luxuries rather than necessities outside of our American bubble. Since being back, I have often contemplated how these things—created for our convenience and pleasure—ironically end up complicating our lives and stressing us out.

Take the automobile for example. Almost every adult in my suburban community has a car. As a result, we can make quick trips to the supermarket, easily visit our friends across town, and take our kids to school in the morning. However, our ability to get up and go burdens us with the expectation that we fill our days with endless meetings and activities. We are expected to make a 45 minute commute to work, meet friends in town for lunch, drop off a package at the post office, pick the kids up from soccer practice, and grab a gallon of milk “on the way home.” Add rush hour and that unavoidable stop light that is always red, and the car—once a symbol of personal freedom—becomes the ball and chain tethering us to an inexhaustible list of To Do’s.

It’s fascinating how quickly “I get to…” has become “I have to…” In what other ways does technology turn our privilege into obligation?