We live in an 'instant' society.
Just look at the world around us. At work, emails are expected to be read and replied within days if not hours. Deadlines given are short and numerous. People expect information and services to be furnished to them on a plate instantly.
In society, people flock to fast food restaurants Any order taking more than 15 minutes to arrive is too slow. People people feel compelled to share their thoughts (or pictures of their food) on Facebook or Google+ immediately, via their always connected smartphones. Bills are paid, money is transferred, items are purchased all at the click of a button. Everything is instant. Even the latest social media craze is called 'insta'gram.
We now live life at breakneck speed compared to how life was just 10 to 15 years ago.
Ironic that even with all this 'connectedness' and instant responses, many of us (or at least I) hardly have time to meet up with anyone any more. Social media helps people cope with that in some ways. You always have that option of scrolling on your friends Facebook wall to see what has been going on. But I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with that.
We trade in connecting in the flesh with our friends, person by person with 30 minutes of conveniently looking at our newsfeed. It feels like social media has become an inferior supplement to our social needs, in the same way store bought multivitamins have become inferior supplements to our nutritional needs. Ideally, you should derive both the same way - from the real thing. But we don't. We inevitably do what's quickest and most convenient given our busy schedules. We simply cannot afford, or refuse to wait.
That's the thing about waiting isn't it? It feels more like a hindrance instead of a passage. Let me say that again - hindrance instead of passage. 'All good things come to those who wait', people used to quote. I hardly hear anyone say that anymore. Patience has become a rare virtue indeed, if still a virtue at all these days. I hear complements for quality, efficiency and effectiveness. But never a complement for patience.
Is there no place for it in this world anymore in this 'insta-society'?
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