Problem
In Franklin Foer's "Mark Zuckerberg's War on Free Will" and Jia Tolentino's "Always Be Optimizing," both authors describe a society that places a premium on efficiency. Tolentino writes about how, in order to "get better at life under accelerated capitalism," one is "compelled to optimize" by engaging in practices that feel "particularly efficient and self-interested, like going to a barre class or eating lunch at a fast-casual chopped-salad chain" (Tolentino 66). Foer notes that, when companies "suggest what we should learn, the topics we should consider, and the items we ought to buy," they justify these "incursions into our lives" by claiming that "they are supplying us with efficiency" (Foer 107). Both authors are also deeply skeptical of the value placed on efficiency. Why is efficiency presented as a negative or harmful value in the work of both Foer and Tolentino?