Age of instant gratification leaves no room for patience
Craig Hutchison
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Perspectives
Anyone who has read any of my previous columns knows that I am a student of human interaction and societal behavior. Lately, I have been thinking about a proverb which you may or may not have heard before: Patience is a Virtue.
I know when I was growing up, patience was something that was heralded as a very positive trait to have and to exhibit in every area of life. My challenge to you is that everywhere you go for the next week, start making a mental note of how often you experience someone showing patience either to yourself or to someone else.
I started thinking about this the other day when I was stopped at a light. When the light turned green, I guess the poor person to the right of me did not step on the gas fast enough because the car behind him just laid on the horn. The thought crossed my mind, "come on, just have a little patience." Well, that started it off, but I started noticing this lack of patience in other places and situations. I was driving in a lane that had been blocked due to construction and there were a number of cars backed up. Instead of each car being able to pull around the construction in the order in which they were backed up, some of the people from behind hammered the gas and went in front of the cars that had been sitting there first. I have no idea why they felt like they had the right to do that, but I do know that a little patience where they waved people into the through lane would not have hurt anyone.
Of course, I could go on and on with stories of people in lines that push or elbow someone out of the way because they need to be served RIGHT NOW. But I don't believe that this lack of patience just pertains to lines, I think it is something that has permeated many areas of our society. I used to work at Greenfield Village telling stories about the various historical buildings. I can tell you that the maximum attention span for most people was around three to four minutes. After that, they would start to get fidgety and ready to move on. This is an amazing change from people in the past because a lot of history used to be passed down orally and I always imagined people sitting around a table or a fire relating stories that might last an hour or longer. I don't think most people would have the patience for that today.
I know when I was growing up, patience was something that was heralded as a very positive trait to have and to exhibit in every area of life. My challenge to you is that everywhere you go for the next week, start making a mental note of how often you experience someone showing patience either to yourself or to someone else.
I started thinking about this the other day when I was stopped at a light. When the light turned green, I guess the poor person to the right of me did not step on the gas fast enough because the car behind him just laid on the horn. The thought crossed my mind, "come on, just have a little patience." Well, that started it off, but I started noticing this lack of patience in other places and situations. I was driving in a lane that had been blocked due to construction and there were a number of cars backed up. Instead of each car being able to pull around the construction in the order in which they were backed up, some of the people from behind hammered the gas and went in front of the cars that had been sitting there first. I have no idea why they felt like they had the right to do that, but I do know that a little patience where they waved people into the through lane would not have hurt anyone.
Of course, I could go on and on with stories of people in lines that push or elbow someone out of the way because they need to be served RIGHT NOW. But I don't believe that this lack of patience just pertains to lines, I think it is something that has permeated many areas of our society. I used to work at Greenfield Village telling stories about the various historical buildings. I can tell you that the maximum attention span for most people was around three to four minutes. After that, they would start to get fidgety and ready to move on. This is an amazing change from people in the past because a lot of history used to be passed down orally and I always imagined people sitting around a table or a fire relating stories that might last an hour or longer. I don't think most people would have the patience for that today.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Erin
posted 4/22/09 @ 5:33 PM EST
I'm actually writing a paper on this very topic. It is a study about the affects of technology on etiquette through the demise of patience. The research has been very interesting, enlightening and sad all at the same time. (Continued…)
Jenny Adkins
posted 5/12/09 @ 1:31 AM EST
We're not getting more impatient because of the technology; the technology is becoming our justification for being impatient.
It's not even about impatience--some of this is downright rudeness. (Continued…)
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