Nice Work If You Can Avoid It

In which I take a break from my idle life to defend American laziness

Illustration by Tomaz Walenta for TIME

Joel Stein Awesome Column

Many commentators have criticized my self-obsessed columns as being narcissistic. I know because I spend several hours each day Googling my name and reading those comments. Sure, I was a lodestar for this generation's narcissism, writing about my body hair in this magazine long before people wrote about their body hair on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. But I was also forging an even more important cultural shift: laziness. Because there's no form of journalism that requires fewer interviews than writing about yourself. I know. I've looked. But not too hard.

Here are things I'm too lazy to do: fax, send mail,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!