The problem with immediate gratification
So, there's a problem with the world today. Okay, so there are a lot of problems with the world, but today I'm just looking at one.... The world moves too freakin fast.
In fact, the world moves so fast that we expect everything to happen immediately. Maybe not "we" but me. I expect everything to happen at the moment when I'm thinking about it. Email and especially IM have just made it worse. I email someone and I just assume that they are sitting in front of their computers, waiting to email me back. That's the arrogant part of me. The self-conscious, insecure part envisions them sitting there, reading the email from me and saying, "geez, not Karen again. the last thing I want to do is talk to her."
IM is the worst. You know the person is there, because the evil Microsoft gods have told you "____ is available." And you know that you emailed them. And then they disappear off your list, never to be seen again, without an email or IM response. Which, obviously, means they simply do not love you anymore.
It also occurs to me that those friends of mine who do not spend all day at a computer must think I am insane. You see, there are a limited number of friends and an unlimited number of emails. I am planner girl, after all, and sometimes I am trying to plan several things at a time (baseball game, hockey, concert, etc.). I can only assume that the friends of mine who get all these emails and only check their email once a week must think I have nothing to do all day but email. Which, I suppose, is not all that far from the truth. And then, somewhere, in the ridiculous number of emails I have sent to the same people, is the one "important" email which, like the others, goes unanswered. I should expect as much, since the person has just spent all of their free computer time reading my emails and has run out of time to respond.
One last thought on this. Not only does the world move too fast, but I envision it moving faster for some of my friends than for others. There is a very good friend of mine who I haven't heard from in a little over 6 months. I have emailed and have not heard back, and yet I know that, eventually, he will email me because he always loves me no matter what. And then there are the poor souls whose love I apparently do not trust. Because if they fail to email for a week, I assume that they hate me or are dead. In my mind, there simply no other options. So to them, I must apologize. I will try to be better.
In fact, the world moves so fast that we expect everything to happen immediately. Maybe not "we" but me. I expect everything to happen at the moment when I'm thinking about it. Email and especially IM have just made it worse. I email someone and I just assume that they are sitting in front of their computers, waiting to email me back. That's the arrogant part of me. The self-conscious, insecure part envisions them sitting there, reading the email from me and saying, "geez, not Karen again. the last thing I want to do is talk to her."
IM is the worst. You know the person is there, because the evil Microsoft gods have told you "____ is available." And you know that you emailed them. And then they disappear off your list, never to be seen again, without an email or IM response. Which, obviously, means they simply do not love you anymore.
It also occurs to me that those friends of mine who do not spend all day at a computer must think I am insane. You see, there are a limited number of friends and an unlimited number of emails. I am planner girl, after all, and sometimes I am trying to plan several things at a time (baseball game, hockey, concert, etc.). I can only assume that the friends of mine who get all these emails and only check their email once a week must think I have nothing to do all day but email. Which, I suppose, is not all that far from the truth. And then, somewhere, in the ridiculous number of emails I have sent to the same people, is the one "important" email which, like the others, goes unanswered. I should expect as much, since the person has just spent all of their free computer time reading my emails and has run out of time to respond.
One last thought on this. Not only does the world move too fast, but I envision it moving faster for some of my friends than for others. There is a very good friend of mine who I haven't heard from in a little over 6 months. I have emailed and have not heard back, and yet I know that, eventually, he will email me because he always loves me no matter what. And then there are the poor souls whose love I apparently do not trust. Because if they fail to email for a week, I assume that they hate me or are dead. In my mind, there simply no other options. So to them, I must apologize. I will try to be better.
