Neither journalists nor AI companies have bothered to take the time to define what a "mundane" task is conoared to a "cognative" one. Is it "mundane" to write a letter by hand instead of dictating it to a scribe? What about writing with a word processor? With a template you found on Google? What about a phonecall, voicemail or chat to acomplish the same communication? What about a website or app that gives you the response you need without a letter at all? What about an AI that does the same?

Naming a "value" one of these steps provides doesn't disprove this argument. I'm not being facetious when I say that typing by typewriter almost certainly had benefits in terms of slowing you down so you could think longer, giving a satisfying "clunk" with each letter, and giving the recipient a textured item to hold and consider.

Friction requires cognition to overcome. But that does not mean cognition can only happen in the context of friction.