If you’re going to eat a burger, shake and fries, you might as well do yourself the favor of picking it up yourself.
Recently, I saw someone tweet about how they ordered Chinese food with some awesome deal they found on UberEATS. I’m always interested in finding good food deals, so I downloaded the app in search of it. I was shocked when I saw you could get literally anything within your proximity delivered. Still, the thought of having McDonald’s or Mr. Ronnie’s Famous Hot Donuts delivered makes me cringe.
This gives another reason for our parents’ generation to bring up the “well, when I was growing up…” speech. As much as I may hate that phrase, I understand their need to compare. I never thought we’d have so many societal advancements that we’d become practically immobile — and I grew up during a time where I blinked my eyes and the next thing I know we had miniature computers in our hands. I know anything is possible, but I still didn’t expect these food delivery services.
Many times we speak about how we wish kids these days would ride their bikes instead of play on their iPads, yet we’re willing to spend an extra $5-10 on delivery instead of doing the slightest bit of work by walking to the car to pick up some food.
These services are feeding into our country’s terrible health culture. People now have easier access to consume 1,000 calories in one sitting while hardly moving a muscle. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40 percent of American adults are obese — putting us at No. 1 on the list of obesity among industrialized countries.
First Lady Michelle Obama warned us: “The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake,” she said at the launch of her public health campaign “Let’s Move!”
In addition to any food craving you may possibly have delivered to your front door, companies such as Walmart are contributing to the increasing amount of laziness among our citizens. Walmart has launched its grocery pickup where customers don’t have to leave their car to grocery shop. Soon we won’t have to leave our house for anything, and that’s rather frightening.
Though I want to get rid of many of these services completely, there are times when apps such as UberEATS and Waitr are helpful. They could be used if you’re physically disabled, can’t leave work or campus for lunch or don’t have any form of transportation. Other than those reasons, we don’t need these services.
It was great when the only thing you could get delivered was Chinese food or pizza and you’d order it with the excitement of watching movies and having a “lazy” day. However, these every-so-often lazy days are becoming everyday occurrences.
There’s a fine line between efficiency and laziness, and these food delivery apps are certainly walking on it. I’m not saying stop eating Taco Bell and I’m also not saying walk to get it — I’m just saying it’s a better idea to, at the very minimum, walk to and from your car.
Clarke Perkins is a 21-year-old political science senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.