Several years ago, across a series of conversations, workshops, and business strategy sessions with Harvey Lee, a recurring observation emerged from multiple strands of research. At the time, we were both working in the cybersecurity industry - an industry that often framed its mission around delivering peace of mind: the promise that security and privacy would be taken care of by vendors, so customers would not have to worry about them. peace of mind security and privacy would be taken care of by vendors Against that backdrop, a broader pattern became visible. Security and privacy no longer appeared to be central concerns for most users. Certainly not for younger generations growing up inside digital platforms. And increasingly not for mobile-first consumers navigating daily life through apps. Responsibility for security and privacy was simply assumed to sit elsewhere - embedded in platforms, absorbed by providers, or delegated to developers. In effect, security and privacy became taken for granted. Either platforms were believed to have already solved these issues, or they were expected to be handled somewhere else, by someone else - without requiring active attention from the user. What mattered most was not whether this observation was entirely right or wrong, but what it implied. If security and privacy quietly slip off the agenda, what happens to trust? And, more precisely, what happens to our willingness to question the systems we rely on every day? what happens to our willingness to question the systems we rely on every day When Convenience Becomes the Default When Convenience Becomes the Default Convenience has always shaped technology adoption. But something has shifted. Where earlier digital systems required effort, explanation, or learning, today’s platforms optimise relentlessly for frictionless use. Authentication disappears into biometrics. Permissions are bundled into one-tap approvals. Decisions are made automatically, often invisibly. This is not accidental. Modern digital platforms are designed around minimizing cognitive load. The less users have to think, the more likely they are to stay. In that environment, trust no longer feels like a choice or a judgment. It becomes ambient - something inferred from smoothness, speed, and the absence of disruption. The problem is that convenience does not eliminate risk; it simply masks it. When systems work “well enough,” users stop asking how they work, what assumptions they rely on, or who is accountable when they fail. Trust shifts from being an active stance to a passive condition. Trust shifts from being an active stance to a passive condition The Quiet Trade-Off The Quiet Trade-Off Historically, trust involved exposure. To trust meant to accept vulnerability while believing that another party - a person or an institution - would act in a predictable or benevolent way. That belief could be questioned, challenged, or withdrawn. Convenience changes this dynamic. Instead of asking “Is this system trustworthy?”, users increasingly ask “Is this system easy?” Ease becomes a proxy for reliability. Reliability becomes a substitute for trust. “Is this system trustworthy?” “Is this system easy?” This substitution matters. A system can be reliable without being accountable. It can be efficient without being fair. It can function smoothly while remaining opaque. A system can be reliable without being accountable In highly optimised digital environments, trust is no longer verified - it is deferred. Deferred to platform providers. Deferred to developers. Deferred to regulation, if it exists at all. deferred From Friction to Dependency From Friction to Dependency Friction is often framed as the enemy of user experience. But friction once served a purpose. It created moments of reflection: prompts to review permissions, explanations of consequences, visible checkpoints where responsibility was at least implied. As friction disappears, so do these moments. The user no longer encounters the system as something to be understood, but as something to be consumed. The relationship becomes transactional, not deliberative. This shift is especially visible in mobile ecosystems, where speed and immediacy dominate design priorities. Trust becomes something you fall into, not something you grant. Trust becomes something you fall into, not something you grant fall into There is a subtle difference between trust and dependency. Trust allows for withdrawal. Dependency does not. When systems become indispensable - for communication, navigation, payments, work, or identity - opting out becomes costly. Questioning becomes inconvenient. In such contexts, continued use is often mistaken for trust, when it may simply reflect lack of alternatives. Convenience accelerates this process. The easier a system is to use, the harder it is to abandon. Over time, this creates a form of structural trust: not grounded in confidence, but in inertia. I Do Conveniently Agree I Do Conveniently Agree In everyday interactions with digital platforms, a clear pattern emerges. Ease of use consistently outweighs abstract concerns like data governance or systemic risk - at least until something breaks. As long as systems behave as expected, trust rarely becomes an explicit question. It surfaces only when there is a visible failure, a public controversy, or a personal inconvenience. at least until something breaks Modern platforms are designed to deliver a promise of peace of mind, reflecting a long-standing belief in the industry that users should not have to carry the burden of security, privacy and trust themselves. Complexity is not eliminated; it is displaced. Difficult choices, nuanced controls, and consequential settings are pushed into advanced menus, buried several layers deep. Onboarding flows guide users through quick setup wizards, while lengthy terms and conditions - dense with legal and technical implications - are accepted in a single click as the price of entry. In this environment, trust is implied rather than examined. Platforms present themselves as already trustworthy, while users, faced with frictionless paths forward, choose to agree - not because they have evaluated the system, but because agreement is the most convenient option available. trust is implied rather than examined Most users move through platforms with a confidence that is practical rather than informed. They trust systems they cannot explain, do not audit, and would struggle to meaningfully challenge. This confidence rests less on understanding than on the repeated experience of things simply working. This gap between confidence and understanding is not irrational. It reflects how digital environments are structured. Questioning takes effort and offers little immediate reward. Convenience, by contrast, is reinforced every day. Over time, repeated smooth interactions train behaviour and reshape expectations, until trust becomes less a considered stance and more a background condition. a background condition Trust Without Questions Is Not Trust Trust Without Questions Is Not Trust The core issue is not that users are careless, or that platforms are malicious. It is that convenience reframes the very conditions under which trust operates. When trust no longer requires engagement, it also no longer produces accountability. Systems are trusted by default, not because they have earned trust, but because questioning them feels unnecessary - or exhausting. This does not mean convenience is inherently bad. But it does mean that convenience is not neutral. It redistributes responsibility away from users and toward systems that are often poorly equipped - or insufficiently incentivized - to deserve it. If earlier articles in this series examined trust as a social mechanism, governance as its point of failure, and legitimacy as the condition for endurance, this piece highlights a quieter dynamic: how trust erodes not through conflict, but through comfort. Convenience does not break trust. It softens it, dilutes it, and eventually replaces it with habit. Convenience does not break trust softens it And habits, unlike trust, are rarely questioned - until they are impossible to ignore. Further Reading & Conceptual References Further Reading & Conceptual References Lee, H. - Backstage Pass (Business, leadership, and unconventional perspectives on navigating complex organisations)
O’Donnell, D & Latour, J. - A Trust Layer for the Internet is Emerging (Pairing technical trust and human trust)
Ananthanpillai, R., Cyberdefence Magazine - Verified Trust Is the New Currency: Why Digital Platforms Must Prioritize Security and Transparency (Security, transparency, and platform trust economics)
Patrick, C., LinkedIn Pulse - What’s more important to consumers? Trust? Or convenience? (User attitudes toward privacy, security, and digital behaviour)
Muhammad, Dey - A Typology and Model of Privacy-and Security-Concerned Users' Attitudes towards Digital Footprints and Consequent Influence on their Social Media Adaptation (User attitudes toward privacy, security, and digital behaviour)
Albinson, Balaji, Chu - Building digital trust: Technology can lead the way (Technological approaches to establishing and maintaining trust)
Schmidt, Biessmann, Teubner - Transparency and trust in artificial intelligence systems (Explainability, transparency, and trust in AI systems)
Multiple Authors, RSI International Journals - Trust Formation in Digital Platforms: Behavioral and Institutional Factors (Behavioural dynamics and institutional structures of digital trust)
Multiple Authors, ScienceDirect - Explainability, Accountability, and Trust in AI-Driven Systems (Accountability mechanisms and trust in automated decision-making) Lee, H. - Backstage Pass (Business, leadership, and unconventional perspectives on navigating complex organisations) Lee, H. Backstage Pass O’Donnell, D & Latour, J. - A Trust Layer for the Internet is Emerging (Pairing technical trust and human trust) O’Donnell, D & Latour, J. Ananthanpillai, R., Cyberdefence Magazine - Verified Trust Is the New Currency: Why Digital Platforms Must Prioritize Security and Transparency (Security, transparency, and platform trust economics) Ananthanpillai, R. Verified Trust Is the New Currency: Why Digital Platforms Must Prioritize Security and Transparency Patrick, C., LinkedIn Pulse - What’s more important to consumers? Trust? Or convenience? (User attitudes toward privacy, security, and digital behaviour) Patrick, C., LinkedIn Pulse Muhammad, Dey - A Typology and Model of Privacy-and Security-Concerned Users' Attitudes towards Digital Footprints and Consequent Influence on their Social Media Adaptation (User attitudes toward privacy, security, and digital behaviour) Muhammad, Dey A Typology and Model of Privacy-and Security-Concerned Users' Attitudes towards Digital Footprints and Consequent Influence on their Social Media Adaptation Albinson, Balaji, Chu - Building digital trust: Technology can lead the way (Technological approaches to establishing and maintaining trust) Albinson, Balaji, Chu Building digital trust: Technology can lead the way Schmidt, Biessmann, Teubner - Transparency and trust in artificial intelligence systems (Explainability, transparency, and trust in AI systems) Schmidt, Biessmann, Teubner Transparency and trust in artificial intelligence systems Multiple Authors, RSI International Journals - Trust Formation in Digital Platforms: Behavioral and Institutional Factors (Behavioural dynamics and institutional structures of digital trust) Multiple Authors, RSI International Journals Trust Formation in Digital Platforms: Behavioral and Institutional Factors Multiple Authors, ScienceDirect - Explainability, Accountability, and Trust in AI-Driven Systems (Accountability mechanisms and trust in automated decision-making) Multiple Authors, ScienceDirect Explainability, Accountability, and Trust in AI-Driven Systems

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Trust and Convenience: Why We Stop Asking Questions

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