(This essay appeared in my column JUSTIFIED.)
For the past several years or so, I have been some sort of a techie ( For dinosaurs out there,that's technospeak for "a person who is inclined towards the use of modern technologies.") I have had---or still have unless lost or stolen--- a laptop, a Palm Pilot, several phones at a time, and other such gadgets which shall remained unnamed lest I'll sound pompous.
That also means that I am addicted to various internet sites and maintain several accounts in Yahoo!, Google, Blogger, Tagged, Skype, Shelfari and of course, Friendster (and now, Facebook).
"You have 122 friends" (that's not even that many compared to other users), a line beside my profile reads.
Whoa! I've never imagined I have that many friends. Or are they?
It never dawned on me, not until recently, that one could have so many friends---in an instant. I've always believed that friendship takes time to develop; that it's based on mutual respect, honesty, empathy, understanding, etc. I can never remember being given the chance to experience any of the aforementioned qualities to all of my 122 friends.
There was a time when the things "instant" that we know of are coffee, milk, noodles ---you only need to add hot water---and gratification. Well, there's the word I've been looking for---gratification. Let me emphasize that: instant gratification.
If you want a nice body but don't want to sweat, go and have your fats sucked. Forget about lifting weights, forget about the hard work. If you want instant financial gain, then join get-rich quick schemes (the most incredible ones use only baking soda and lint from your bellybutton, wink wink, nudge nudge). Forget about thrift, investing and budgeting skills. And now, if you want instant "friends", go surf The Net.
We want everything to happen so fast. Not just that, we want everything to happen without investment---in time, effort, energy---in it. What has happened to character-building? Is it consigned only in textbooks?
Most of us have problems with instant gratification at one point of our lives or another; heck, almost all of the time.Partly to blame for this malaise is how society pressures us to be better,faster, taller, better-looking, fairer, etc. In order to achieve that, society dictates---and we succumbed---that we purchase what's the latest in the market, the most recent product breakthrough, the top-of-the line, the biggest there is, the glitziest there is. Media, of course, hasn't been much of a help in this regard. The implicit message is: "Be happy and be merry now for tomorrow you die." Or something to that effect.
"You want fairer skin? Use this body lotion. Whiter skin in just two weeks!", says one product endorser on TV. "Two weeks?! Our product makes you whiter in 24 hours! Plus it peels your epidermis, has Vitamin E, SPF 15, aloe vera and seaweed in as low as buying a pirated VCD from the tiangge. Not only that, we deliver right in front of your doorstep!" retorts another product placement. Yes, I'm totally making up these lines but they cannot be further from the truth.
What is the metaphysics of instant or immediate gratification? Is it wired into the knobs atop our necks? Are we, as a species, biologically inclined to gratify ourselves---that is, is it human nature? Or is it just a case of "trying to live up with the Joneses"? You know, the mentality that if others have it so should I.And at once. I know it can be bad, inexistence of proof notwithstanding.
Aside from television, other modes of media have fueled our cravings for immediate gratification. The Internet and the computer have been used for online purchases, porn viewing, seeking faceless, nameless "virtual" friends, who knows what else is there.
This exposition is not about the ill-effects of technology. This is about how we have been bombarded in all fronts by media and various modes of communication in giving in to our pleasures, cravings, whims and instincts and how we have readily succumbed.
We must therefore be wary; be very, very wary.
That also means that I am addicted to various internet sites and maintain several accounts in Yahoo!, Google, Blogger, Tagged, Skype, Shelfari and of course, Friendster (and now, Facebook).
"You have 122 friends" (that's not even that many compared to other users), a line beside my profile reads.
Whoa! I've never imagined I have that many friends. Or are they?
It never dawned on me, not until recently, that one could have so many friends---in an instant. I've always believed that friendship takes time to develop; that it's based on mutual respect, honesty, empathy, understanding, etc. I can never remember being given the chance to experience any of the aforementioned qualities to all of my 122 friends.
There was a time when the things "instant" that we know of are coffee, milk, noodles ---you only need to add hot water---and gratification. Well, there's the word I've been looking for---gratification. Let me emphasize that: instant gratification.
If you want a nice body but don't want to sweat, go and have your fats sucked. Forget about lifting weights, forget about the hard work. If you want instant financial gain, then join get-rich quick schemes (the most incredible ones use only baking soda and lint from your bellybutton, wink wink, nudge nudge). Forget about thrift, investing and budgeting skills. And now, if you want instant "friends", go surf The Net.
We want everything to happen so fast. Not just that, we want everything to happen without investment---in time, effort, energy---in it. What has happened to character-building? Is it consigned only in textbooks?
Most of us have problems with instant gratification at one point of our lives or another; heck, almost all of the time.Partly to blame for this malaise is how society pressures us to be better,faster, taller, better-looking, fairer, etc. In order to achieve that, society dictates---and we succumbed---that we purchase what's the latest in the market, the most recent product breakthrough, the top-of-the line, the biggest there is, the glitziest there is. Media, of course, hasn't been much of a help in this regard. The implicit message is: "Be happy and be merry now for tomorrow you die." Or something to that effect.
"You want fairer skin? Use this body lotion. Whiter skin in just two weeks!", says one product endorser on TV. "Two weeks?! Our product makes you whiter in 24 hours! Plus it peels your epidermis, has Vitamin E, SPF 15, aloe vera and seaweed in as low as buying a pirated VCD from the tiangge. Not only that, we deliver right in front of your doorstep!" retorts another product placement. Yes, I'm totally making up these lines but they cannot be further from the truth.
What is the metaphysics of instant or immediate gratification? Is it wired into the knobs atop our necks? Are we, as a species, biologically inclined to gratify ourselves---that is, is it human nature? Or is it just a case of "trying to live up with the Joneses"? You know, the mentality that if others have it so should I.And at once. I know it can be bad, inexistence of proof notwithstanding.
Aside from television, other modes of media have fueled our cravings for immediate gratification. The Internet and the computer have been used for online purchases, porn viewing, seeking faceless, nameless "virtual" friends, who knows what else is there.
This exposition is not about the ill-effects of technology. This is about how we have been bombarded in all fronts by media and various modes of communication in giving in to our pleasures, cravings, whims and instincts and how we have readily succumbed.
We must therefore be wary; be very, very wary.
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