David Brooks The Evolution Of Simplicity

In his essay, “The Evolution of Simplicity,” American conservative political and cultural commentator David Brooks examines the modern obsession with the simplification of life. His essay hints at man’s tendency to overcomplicate various aspects of day-to-day activities and failure to appreciate life for its true beauty. Brooks warns that this over complication of the nation can leave us swamped with stress and spread to thin, spending too much of our energy and focus on unimportant and virtually irrelevant facets of our existence.

In the beginning, Brooks illustrates the shift in thought from the outdated ideals of the past to the modern paradigm of simplicity. The oxymoronic title, “The Evolution of Simplicity,” exemplifies the irony of a society that advances forward technologically, yet moves backwards toward simplicity. This demonstrates our “go for the gusto” mentality that causes us to forget to enjoy the little things in life. Too often, we restrict ourselves with tunnel vision, focusing only on the destination ahead and forgetting to enjoy the

Establishing credibility, Brooks inserts modern examples of simplicity penetrating our daily routines. He utilizes one of “the best-selling books of 2015” to show how widespread this move toward simplicity reaches. Brooks also mentions the “thousands of members of the National Association of Professional Organizers” to almost satirize the large number of Americans that actually take part in what seems like such a silly organization. These examples reveal unintended irony within the essay, uncovering that in order to make our lives simpler, we tend to clutter it further with books, clubs, “magazines and websites.” While the intentions may appear to simplify, these techniques tend to do the opposite, jumble up life and complicated it further than