20220701: impatience/ instant gratification

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I usually go on a hunting trip on YouTube on my phone. Things I think might be interesting, I add it to my "watch later" list. I don't watch them on my phone. Later, when I find time, I watch them on the TV. (The list has grown to over 50 now!).

When I am watching later, there are hits and misses. Usually in about first 1½ minutes I make up my mind whether it is interesting enough to invest the rest of my time (they are usually 12 - 20 minutes long). If I find it not worthy, I switch to the next one.


A while ago, I had started to watch a documentary/ movie on Netflix. I I think I watched about 10 minutes of it. It was slow and I didn't find it very captivating. I stopped watching it and switched.

After that, I got a recommendation for watching it by someone. I didn't watch it again. I had already tried to and had discontinued.

However, I had a few more folks recommended it to me. It piqued my curiosity. I watched it again. This time I forced myself to go past the initial 10-15 minutes (which is slow). It was incredible after. Showed a whole new world and I really liked it.

It is not an isolated behaviour, I have done the same for several movies - simply because there are a lot more available to me.

How do I think I can know by watching just the initial part and make a generalised assumption for the whole of it. The best parts might come later! 

This from a person who grew up with no choice and would eagerly wait a whole week, looking forward to an episode of anything. Where did the patience go?

My nurses are always on the phone. It's either youtube shorts or Instagram reels or tic toc something,etc. Most of the videos they watch is about 15 seconds. In the first 2-3 seconds, they decide whether to continue to watch or "swipe". Even the ones that get watched, don't get watched fully. After 10-12 seconds, they hit "❤️" and move on. After a brief while it starts repeating the snippets and they lose interest. I have heard them complaining to each other frequently that nothing new is there!

And they are in mid 20s. They wouldn't have had all this till well into their teens.

Why can I expect anything different from the generation born into this watching all adults around them doing the same thing and making an example of impatience as the norm.

Indeed the world of "swiping" and "scrolling" has ruined our patience and any semblance of delayed satisfaction with abundance and instant gratification...

Comments

  1. Anonymous1/7/22 12:39

    You have summed it up well Sreekanth. The world of instant gratification.. Amrit

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10/7/22 09:57

    I enjoyed reading and reflecting on our culture Sreekanth

    ReplyDelete

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