Instant Gratification With Technology

Instant Gratification with Technology

The advancements in technology in recent years have been so exciting and intriguing. Efficiencies within the business environment and communications have become so streamlined as a result. We can GOOGLE anything and get an answer instantly. We can call just about anyone, anywhere in the world while driving in our car. Phones are not phones they are mobile workstations. Books are becoming a thing of the past because now you can download just about anything you want to read to IPads, tablets, nooks and other portable computing devices. It is fantastic, or is it?

I think all this technology has created the instant gratification syndrome. If we send someone an email we expect an instant response. Even as I write this I am responding to emails in between sentences. If we send a text, we stare at our phone until a response is received. We get anxious if we have to leave a voice mail. Why aren’t they answering their phone? I want information now, not later. FAXES are becoming obsolete because they are not fast enough or as legible as a scanned document that is then emailed or delivered through some type of secure electronic portal.

I remember the college days when Cathy and I wrote letters to each other while she was away at school. Can you believe that a letter that was handwritten? It was then folded and put in an envelope, dropped at the post office and then you waited. Imagine that we had to wait for a response, maybe for more than a week. That’s what we did. Yes we could have talked on the phone but writing letters was special. You had a chance to collect your thoughts and really go deep with some thoughts about whatever was important at the time. It could have been about family, friends, a difficult class, a tough exam, a difficult professor or a fun night out on campus. You did not have to rush writing a letter…you took your time. It did not matter what you wrote, it was the fact that you wrote.

So many movies have had references to letter writing. How many times have you seen a scene in a movie where there was the shoe box on the top shelf of the closet with all the “saved letters” inside? Is there a hidden meaning in the letter? Was there a picture included in the letter? Was there a fragrance? Were the letters ever opened? Was someone hiding the letters? Think of all those war movies where the soldier in the battlefield would keep that letter from his gal back home in his shirt pocket. How he would re-read that letter over and over again to get that much closer of a connection. You can’t do that with a text.

I do admit that I am old fashioned at heart and do miss the good old days of letter writing. Sorry, I have to cut this short because I have a call on my cell phone, I have a text and emails that need replies.

Until the Next Tom’s Take…………………………..