Time is gold. A short, but powerful, statement that strongly lends itself to the definition of our generation. We’re a generation of scheduling. A generation obsessed with time, determined to live every second of our lives occupied by something. Whether it be TV, music, or social media, unless we are sleeping, which we rarely do, we have to have something in front of us.
We live in a world where everything now is fast, faster than it ever has been before. We can travel the world in hours, see the world in minutes, and contact the world in mere seconds. And we want it faster, too. We get upset when our texts don’t send or a video takes too long to load. We have even dubbed traditional mail as “snail mail” because we can’t even fathom the thought of reasonably waiting several days for something we know is on its way.
There’s no question that we’re considered impatient, basically being the societal equivalent of a child in a waiting room at the doctor’s office. But why is that? Has our obsession with speed made us immature?
I would have taken to the hallways for opinions if I expected to get anything more than “Who are you?” or “I have to get to class.” It’s not like anyone would even bother to look up from their phone anyway. Sometimes it’s a miracle most people can even walk straight through the halls.
But maybe that’s problem. At any given point on any given day, we have the opportunity to consume mass amounts of entertainment. With just the movement of our finger, we can play a game, talk to a friend, browse Facebook, listen to music, even watch a movie. It’s no wonder we’re constantly itching to do something; we have become too used to being constantly distracted. We crave constant stimulation. Even when we’re doing nothing, we have to be doing something. Since we have created a life for ourselves with zero down time, we have become uncomfortable with situations where we aren’t being fed something to keep us occupied.
That then begs the question, is it even impatience anymore, or is it an attempt to remove ourselves from situations where we feel out of our element? If a generation has never had to wait, then they will do their best to not have to. Unfortunately, this leaves us victim to the judgement of all the generations that had it differently. It makes our impatience nothing more than an acceptable stereotype, a generalization that will take part in stripping us of our individuality. Realistically, it’s no different than talking about the cynical Generation X, born from 1961-1980, or the hardworking baby boomers, born 1946-1960. But how many people do these broad characterizations really hold true for? How long will it be before our generation is simply another group of personality archetypes? Why can’t I just be impatient and not get thrown into a group with everyone else in my age range?
Who knows? What I do know is that it’s hopeless nowadays to escape a stereotype once you’ve fallen into its pattern. But why even complain when it’s something we can’t change? We should be impatient and proud. It has its pros and cons, just as everything else in the world does, but maybe we should just own it and see what other generalizations we can happily play into. I need to go find something else to do now.
