Tools That Change the Way We Think

If there is one thing I am sick of hearing from adults criticizing my generation, its “instant gratification.” As much as I hate the phrase, there is still truth to it. It stems from constant internet use and the speed in which we can either pleasure ourselves or search something. What used to take hours to research by going to the city library, now takes seconds to find. And with this speed comes the need for something even faster. Google has taken this duty by making searches so easy and fast that the website will fill in your query for you without any effort. Say I want to research Herbert Hoover, the president. Without even having to finish the name, Google will have finished it for me. All I have to do is hit enter and scroll to the first link on the page. Another example of the shortening attention span of people is the Wadsworth Constant (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-wadsworth-constant#.TqDyy7KyBXk). The constant states that, for almost every Youtube video out there, the first thirty percent can be skipped without any loss of information.  The same can apply to almost everything from books to simple speech, making something similar to new speak; the horror, the horror. Youtube videos are already short to begin with. Skipping the first five seconds because you are too impatient to wait is the essence of “instant gratification,” although I do use this. How does this new generation of impatient brats armed with the knowledge of everything humanity has ever known compare to their parents or past generations? To start, it doesn’t just affect their actions over the internet, but also in real life. People have always been impatient. We’ve always wanted things faster. This can be seen in waiting in a grocery line. Just a wait of five minutes in a line, while some old lady in front of you scans her prune can seem like an eternity. Even the microwave, something that can cook foods at speed unimaginable 100 years ago can seem too slow. This state that we are in is a state of entropy. We have become slovenly through our own desires. Although we may have all the knowledge and technology in the world, it is that which will kill us. We are privy to our own desires.