Today is the 25th of December; the day where all hype and buzz surrounds a character that many only believed in when they were young, but grow tired of when they get older. Yes, it’s the birthday of Jesus. For all my Christian friends: “Merry Christmas”. For all my non-Christian friends: “Happy Holidays”. And, for anyone that was offended by that Jesus joke: “I’m sorry”.
Now that we’ve got the formalities out of the way, let me introduce today’s post: Instant gratification. What do I mean by ‘instant gratification’? I mean that people are becoming less and less patient in seeking enjoyment and information, and prefer media outlets that can get them what they want as quickly as possible. Time is precious – people would rather just skim through the bullet points than read a long blog post about…oh…right.
Instant gratification is by no means a new thing, although I wouldn’t be surprised if quicker and more seamless media dominated consumer preferences for years to come. Let’s take a look at a few examples of what I would consider instant gratification, followed by the reasons why I think it arrived in the first place and why it’s here to stay.
I’ll start off with an example that nearly everyone knows and loves: Angry Birds. Ok, not everyone loves the blue birds. They’re crap; they hardly do any damage. But the game itself is obviously a huge success, dominating the charts in the App Store (or wherever you unfortunate non-iOS users get your apps). The brilliant thing about the game is the constant source of excitement it gives you. You can pick it up or put it down at anytime, without ever having to use up much of your brain-power. The rate at which achievements and levels are completed is extremely quick, and is likely an important factor in making Angry Birds as enjoyable as traditional console games, which require a lot more investment.
Aside from games, what about one of advertising and marketing’s favourite phenomena? Yes, I’m talking about social networking sites. The ‘News Feed’ of Facebook is an excellent provider of instant gratification, but I think an even more interesting example concerns Twitter. You would think that placing an inhibition upon users, such as the 140 character limit, would be a downside to its usability, but that isn’t the case. It’s a great filter, speeds up the rate of information, and, like Angry Birds, makes you feel like you’re getting a lot more gratification out of it compared to the investment and effort you put into using it. Sure, it sacrifices the comprehensiveness of information, but is that what people really want?
More and more examples of instant gratification’s influence can be seen scattered throughout different media outlets. Do you remember how popular the show, ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, was a few years ago? It’s not even being aired anymore in the UK, where it originally started, but is still highly popular in its more ‘instant’ form as a mobile game. Also, the days of photo albums look to be fading away, as apps such as iLoader and WhatsApp messenger can get the job done with a press of a button. I would even go as far as saying that comedy movies are on the decline, because the genre may be more suited to the shorter segment of TV shows, or the even shorter space of a YouTube clip (and, have you been keeping up with the instant brilliance of internet ‘memes’?). Not that I actually agree with IMDB users’ ratings of the top comedy movies of all time, but notice how few movies on the list were released in the last 5, or even 10, years.
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| 'Socially Awkward Penguin' – a classic example of an internet 'meme' |
We’ve looked at some examples of media productions that provide instant gratifications, but why do we like them so much? One of the most important questions to ask about instant gratification is: What’s driving its influence? In my opinion, there are three main factors linked to the influence of instant gratification: technology, biology, and opportunity.
Technological determinists (people who believe that change is driven by technology) will love to hear that I believe that one of the main enablers of more instant gratification is thanks to technology. We may take it for granted, but when I open up my MacBook, connect to my wireless broadband internet, do a quick search on Google, upload a video to YouTube, leave my house to find a decent restaurant with my Yelp app, all before fitting in one or two cheeky levels of Angry Birds, it’s pretty obvious that technology has provided the platform to do so. In addition, mobile technology seems to be the main catalyst in recent years. Thanks, mobile technology.
What was the second thing I mentioned? Oh yeah – biology. I believe that people are simply wired to enjoy or appreciate instant gratification. When people gamble, dopamine levels in the brain are highest just at that moment before the result of the gamble is realised. Playing a game like Angry Birds or refreshing the News Feed of Facebook (yes, we’ve all done it repeatedly out of boredom at some point) gives us that constant feeling of anticipation we would feel as if gambling, and keeps our interest ever so well. Speaking of that, I would love to see a study done on dopamine levels in the brain while playing Angry Birds.
My third 'enabler' of instant gratification’s influence is opportunity, and you may be wondering what I actually mean by this. Well, why do people constantly use and popularise media productions that promote instant gratification? Because they can. As I mentioned, people value time, and when a good opportunity arises to get you what you’re looking for without taking up too much time, that opportunity gets taken. Sure, there are many exceptions to the rule, but when we’re talking about instant gratification, we’re talking about a trend, not a law of the universe.
This post seems to have taken a serious tone all of a sudden, hasn’t it? That’s not a cool thing to do on a happy day like Christmas. In light of that, I think you’ve had enough of me for one day/month/year, so I’m going to cap this post off and start thinking of something nice to say to you in the New Year. I hope this post has made you appreciate the wonders of instant gratification, and I wish you the best of luck with your New Year’s resolutions, whether you’ve promised yourself to “get more exercise” or “stop reading Craig’s blog”. God speed.
