I recently went to a store to buy a pair of pants and emerged from the experience thinking, “That is probably the most unpleasant thing I have had to do in a long, long time.”

I don’t know where to start, the hysterically awful music playing, the screaming children, the irritable employees or the fact that I couldn’t seem to find a pair of jeans that fit me and didn’t look like they were actually worn in the gold rush. While ditching my watch for a calendar in the checkout, I thought there had to be a better way, and then it hit me.

Of course there was.

If this was 1982, there wouldn’t be an alternative to this suffering. Well, at least the music would have been better. But in this wonderful, antisocial modern world, no one has to go to the store. Literally anything you want to buy can be purchased online in minutes and then delivered straight to your door.

In the past, online shopping was novel, but not really reliable. You kind of waited for your package in hope rather than expectation. But now it’s down to a science. It’s very, very easy to buy anything online and have it arrive in hours rather than weeks. Don’t believe me? You can have a live fish shipped to your house from California in less than 24 hours. With such ruthlessly efficient means of buying whatever it is you may want online, why would anyone ever go to the store?

Some might argue that once we start doing everything online we will continue to become more and more removed from society, and I agree. However, this is a part of society I wouldn’t mind being removed from. Anyone insane enough to have gone to a store at 4am on Black Friday will know what I’m talking about. But there others don’t want to give up seeing in person what they are about to buy (and probably throw out in a year).

But really I think this is a trust issue. This type of person is the type of person who thinks, “No, I don’t trust hundreds of people’s reviews, I need to see it for myself.” So, if you don’t trust people, then you have no alternative. But for normal, sane people, really it’s as simple as this: avoid the madness and spirit crushing waste of time and just buy things online. And the best part is, you can listen to whatever you want.