There was a time when the word “outsource” didn’t exist in everyday life.

Back then, everything was done in-house — literally.
You built your own home, with help from neighbors.
You planted your own food.
Meals were made at home.
Laundry and cleaning — handled by the family.
Religious rituals? Prepared and performed personally.
Clothes? Bought fabric and made them yourself.

The economy was simple. So was the rhythm of life.
But here’s what most people miss:
That simplicity created connection.

Doing things together meant spending time together.
That time wasn’t wasted — it built relationships.
The more you worked with someone, the more you understood them.
Strengths. Flaws. Personality.
You didn’t need therapy to build bonds — you just needed shared work.

Fast forward to today:

You want a house? Buy from a developer.
Need food? Supermarket or GrabFood.
Cooking? Cafés and restaurants.
Cleaning? Hire a maid or contract a cleaner.
Festivals or prayers? Swipe a few times — someone else will do it for you.
Clothing? Fast fashion, ready-made.

Modern life is optimized for convenience.
But in the process, something fundamental got traded away:
Time with people.

The irony?
We outsource to “gain” time — but that gained time gets reinvested into work, hustle, income.
Which leads to more outsourcing.

We think we’re being efficient.
What we’re actually doing is quietly removing human interaction from our lives.
Family becomes a chat group.
Relationships become logistics.
Togetherness becomes optional.

And here’s the wake-up call:

You can’t outsource connection.
You can’t buy real bonding from a third-party service.
You can’t swipe your way into closeness.

“Those who were good without being taught belonged to ancient times. Today, goodness must come through teaching.” — Xunzi (荀子)

Xunzi understood long ago: virtue isn’t automatic.
It comes from habit, environment, and repeated effort — things we used to build through shared daily life.

But we’ve outsourced the very training ground of character.

You don’t need to quit outsourcing.
But you do need to draw a line.

Outsource tasks — not relationships.
Delegate work — not the rituals that define your family.
Buy time — but use it to be present.

Because once the fabric of shared life disappears,
what’s left is just people living next to each other — not with each other.

And no, this isn’t about being “traditional” or “poor.”
It’s about being intentional.

Outsource with awareness.
Or risk becoming a stranger to your own life.

You just need to calculate how much your time is worth that’s all…if your work earns you $100/hr and compare your meal prep time also need 1 hr…you are better off buy $5 chicken rice

If you outsource and gain time, but choose to reinvest in income-producing ventures, that’s your choice.

There’s also the option to outsource and use the extra time to spend with family or friends to socialise/bond.

Sounds logically right — if outsourcing saves time and money, then outsource.

But let’s go a bit deeper.

If everything in life could be outsourced — would you? Should you?

My main critique isn’t about the math — it’s about the mindset. What’s often missing from public discourse is this simple truth: human relationships — especially within families — require time, shared effort, and physical presence to grow. That means doing things together — cooking, cleaning, daily chores. These “mundane” tasks are actually the threads that weave connection.

If outsourcing gives you more time, and you choose to reinvest that time into nurturing your relationships — great. That’s intentional living. You understand that meaningful bonds need attention and effort, just like anything truly valuable.

But if you simply redirect that time into chasing more money, more prestige, or more screen time — while sidelining the people closest to you — then you’re quietly contributing to the decay of human connection, even if you don’t realize it.

Why does this matter?

Because we’re already seeing the impact. Society is flooded with emotionally underdeveloped individuals — people lacking empathy, patience, and the ability to form lasting bonds. Just look at today’s dating scene: even something as petty as who pays for a meal can spark endless debate.

Do we really want our children and grandchildren to grow up in a world where relationships are transactional, shallow, and fragile?

Or do we want to raise a generation — both men and women — grounded in emotional maturity, empathy, and strong, meaningful relationships?

It’s not just about convenience.

It’s about the social ecosystem we’re shaping — and the kind of people our children will live among.

Thank you — your post helps validate that there are still readers who truly understand the intended message.

Not many people recognize how time is being used.

If we treat time as a commodity — limited to just 24 hours a day — then it must be consciously allocated. And broadly speaking, it often gets distributed between two paths:

a) learning and resource-seeking, or
b) learning, virtue cultivation, and human relationship building.

In the end, it all comes down to balance — how we choose to use our time, and how much we choose to outsource. Outsourcing itself isn't wrong, but when overdone, it risks replacing meaningful connection with mere convenience.