instant gratification...

how long do you usually take to respond to e-mails? what's an appropriate length of time for somebody to wait before they return your call? how many 30-second commercials can you watch before you go stir crazy for your show? what length of time determines “too long?”

recently i've noticed how much our society...okay wait, interjection: when i say "society" or "culture" i am most likely referring to the good ol' u.s. of a. i'll let you know if that definition changes. anyway...recently i've notice how much our society longs for instant gratification. our world is so fast-paced that too long of a wait causes people to have aneurisms. let me jump in again here and make sure i let all you readers know that when i accuse society of something, i am most likely including myself in that group. i am not exempt from anything i criticize.

anyway. for example...self check-out lines. are we so impatient that we have to scan, bag, and charge all of our own items at wal-mart now? well, specifically on that topic, let me tell you something: they are not faster. with the amount of "errors" the monotone woman points yells at you, you're better off waiting in the line behind your average mom and her crying baby.

another instance...t.e.v.o. and dvdr. no more commercials! now, i am guilty of this one, so i don't have a lot of room to talk, but it still makes my point. people can't even wait 2 and a half minutes any more. here's a hint: use it as a bathroom break. get some food. grab a beer. don't like commercials? don't watch them. hell, at this point t.v. will automatically tape your favorite shows so that when you want it, you can have it. can we say spoiled??

and of course, when the internet is down? we all freak out. i see this especially at school. if people can't check their e-mail every 5 minutes (guilty again) or get their fix of second by second score updates, then what is the world coming to? god forbid we get our e-mail later or find out who won the game the next morning.

it's baffling to me how quickly we demand response from things. we get mad when our text-message turn around is 2 hours long. daily newspapers won't do any more...it's all about those 30-minute updates on cnn.com and the "breaking news" on t.v. fast food places...proud to be open until the wee hours of the morning so that they can satisfy your 2am munchies. i'm sure i could go on. but, this desire to be happy...NOW! spreads into other areas of our culture. yes, politics. just like every other mentality that sweeps our nation, this too has penetrated the white house walls. i read an article in "time" today that was entitled, "the blink presidency." joe klein (seen on the daily show a few weeks ago) claims that president bush fits perfectly into our "attention-deficit-disordered society." with his instant decision-making "skills" (or "blinks") he immediately satisfies people and makes it look like everything is hunky-dory. "His presidency has been . . . a prime example of the latest fad. Bush is the ultimate "Blink" President. . . . [His] attention span may be haphazard, but the immediate satisfactions are difficult to dispute." well...at least 51% of the people find it hard to dispute. me, on the other hand, i'm a planner when it comes to big decisions.

well, as i expected, my blog took aim at politics. my mom always told me growing up that i was going to care about politics one day. and yes mom, i'll admit it: you were right.