AN AGE OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION
In an age that demands and
gets instant gratification, we are a scared lot afraid the dream may vanish
as fast as it appeared
When five-day cricket matches give way to T20s, and when you hear talk of flash poetry, flash mobs,
instant onthe-move foods and entire stories in 140 characters, you know that
the time for long-winded affairs is over. In the era of quickies, patience and
delayed gratification are long forgotten anachronisms.
Everyone wants everything
right here, right now! And preferably, red-hot! The world demands instant
success, instant gratification, instant contentment and non-stop
entertainment.
And after the stress of all
these demands instant relaxation, instant relief, and possibly, instant
Moksha! We have no sympathy, nor time, for mistakes and bad forms. We put great
pressure on those we grant idolatry status and expect them to always be in
shipshape and to always deliver resounding sixes. Audiences prefer quick
scorers and action men like Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers for the drama and
entertainment they provide. Commercial authors who churn out entertainment in
book after book, sell better than literary authors exploring issues. We are
indeed punishing in our demand for instantaneous performance and entertainment.
The immediate response that
the pressing of a button on a gadget brings has turned us into people who
refuse to wait for anything good or gratifying.
Advances in technology mean
that everything good and better can be achieved at the touch of a button. Why
shop for groceries? Order online. Why step out to eat or cook? Order in. Why
wait for your hair to grow over time? Get hair attachments. Who has the
patience to grow long nails? Stick on acrylic talons. Instant face masks,
instant whitening lotions, instant this, instant that...! And the market is
geared to instantly cater to our wilful impulses, thus fuelling our greed for
more.People on the lookout for instant success go for short-term, high-risk
strategies. From the market to business to politics to relationships we
witness a self-catering culture that is eroding our values and norms of decent
living. We are losing a sense of adjustment, empathy and harmony. We look for
people who mirror our ideas, and for relationships that do not need much
investment.
Romance no longer means
waiting for the postman to arrive or willing the phone to ring. You are in
command mode all the time tracking your lover's movements every second and
demanding instant explanations for delayed response. Who wants to wait to build
up a relationship? There you are ready to pronounce an instant judgment
success or failure! We walk into marriage with our escape routes already
considered and wide open.
Why, we cannot even wait
for our children to grow into success stories; we push them for instant stardom
Indian Idol Junior, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, etc.
I find myself getting
impatient with those who talk slowly; my mother-in-law complains she sometimes
cannot understand me because I talk too fast! I ask for a task to be done and
almost always add, `Please do it right away; I need it as of yesterday!' I
record any television programme I wish to watch, just so I can fast-forward the
slower bits.
There seems to be no
concept of a tomorrow anymore. Who knows if it will come at all? Too many
messages advising us to live in the present for the present mess up with our
yesterdays and tomorrows. We are all afraid.Afraid of a success that comes too
soon afraid it may go away just as soon.Scared of the many instant
gratifications we experience; afraid we may lose it all just as suddenly.
Nothing that has not been built or achieved over time and with effort can give
you the confidence of permanence.
For, with every pleasure
must come pain that is the way of things. And so, immediate pleasure can only
mean deferred pain. The credit card you use at present with pleasure will
present the painful bill later. The fast food you gorge on now will extract the
negatives in the shape of health in future. Games that are designed to awaken
aggression; cars and bikes built and advertised to make you drive with
aggression and speed; sound systems made to blast your ears all instruments
of instant pleasure that will extract the pain later! I am a great believer in
old adages.And here is one for this column Good things come to those who
wait.
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vinitadawra nangia
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TL3APR16
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