Christine Rosen

They do, to some extent, I would argue. And in fact, too much power and too much control creates habits of mind that then perhaps make us less functional as people. And by that, I mean, it's great that I can call my grandma from anywhere in the world on my phone and check in on her and I can text my kids and see what's going on. All these things are good. I use them every day. I'm not a Luddite.

They do, to some extent, I would argue. And in fact, too much power and too much control creates habits of mind that then perhaps make us less functional as people. And by that, I mean, it's great that I can call my grandma from anywhere in the world on my phone and check in on her and I can text my kids and see what's going on. All these things are good. I use them every day. I'm not a Luddite.

But when you spend most of your time having the ability on a phone to mute someone, to end a conversation, to swipe right because that person doesn't look nice to you, the sense of control and power means when you're in a situation where you don't have that control, say you're sitting dealing with a difficult bureaucrat at the DMV who can't figure out why all your paperwork isn't in order.

But when you spend most of your time having the ability on a phone to mute someone, to end a conversation, to swipe right because that person doesn't look nice to you, the sense of control and power means when you're in a situation where you don't have that control, say you're sitting dealing with a difficult bureaucrat at the DMV who can't figure out why all your paperwork isn't in order.

you suddenly realize that you're a lot less patient. And that's because you haven't had to practice being patient. You haven't actually had to deal with difficult things because you can get rid of them, mute them, cut them out of your life. And the technology habituates us to expect certain things. So in the sense that it gives us power and control and we use it wisely, that's all for the good.

you suddenly realize that you're a lot less patient. And that's because you haven't had to practice being patient. You haven't actually had to deal with difficult things because you can get rid of them, mute them, cut them out of your life. And the technology habituates us to expect certain things. So in the sense that it gives us power and control and we use it wisely, that's all for the good.

But I think what we're realizing now with the extent of our use of this, most of us spend more than seven hours a day staring at some form of screen.

But I think what we're realizing now with the extent of our use of this, most of us spend more than seven hours a day staring at some form of screen.

that that also creates new habits of mind, and it does make us less patient, less tolerant of other people, less willing to deal with difficult situations, and in some sense also less sophisticated about things like long-term planning, because we're used to on-demand instant gratification.

that that also creates new habits of mind, and it does make us less patient, less tolerant of other people, less willing to deal with difficult situations, and in some sense also less sophisticated about things like long-term planning, because we're used to on-demand instant gratification.

Yes, it's interesting. When you try to measure qualitative cultural change, for example, it's difficult to make a case in a world where everyone expects everything to be quantitative, right? Well, what are the statistics on that? And so when I was thinking about patients, do we actually have more or less patients? I had to look for other signs of whether we're patient.

Yes, it's interesting. When you try to measure qualitative cultural change, for example, it's difficult to make a case in a world where everyone expects everything to be quantitative, right? Well, what are the statistics on that? And so when I was thinking about patients, do we actually have more or less patients? I had to look for other signs of whether we're patient.

So I studied how people stand in line and how lines have been redesigned. I went to amusement parks to see how those have changed over time to suit the, as it turns out, increasing impatience of a public that doesn't like to wait for anything. I looked at road rage rates, which are, I think, to me, a sign that our unwillingness to accept delay.

So I studied how people stand in line and how lines have been redesigned. I went to amusement parks to see how those have changed over time to suit the, as it turns out, increasing impatience of a public that doesn't like to wait for anything. I looked at road rage rates, which are, I think, to me, a sign that our unwillingness to accept delay.

I looked at how engineers have managed to design websites and pages that load almost instantaneously and what was motivating them to do that because a fraction of a second was too long for people to wait. There are studies of all of this. So when I looked at all of those different threads and brought them all together, I think I can make a pretty strong case that yes, we are less patient.

I looked at how engineers have managed to design websites and pages that load almost instantaneously and what was motivating them to do that because a fraction of a second was too long for people to wait. There are studies of all of this. So when I looked at all of those different threads and brought them all together, I think I can make a pretty strong case that yes, we are less patient.

We are less tolerant of delay. And again, I think it's because if you spend most of your time on a device that's constantly giving you everything you want when you want it, that's your expectation. So it's not just that we're spending all day at work staring at a screen. It's that then we come home, and our leisure time involves screens.

We are less tolerant of delay. And again, I think it's because if you spend most of your time on a device that's constantly giving you everything you want when you want it, that's your expectation. So it's not just that we're spending all day at work staring at a screen. It's that then we come home, and our leisure time involves screens.

And so that then takes out of the realm of human interaction all kinds of sociable interactions that people used to share in third places like a coffee shop or a saloon or a bowling alley. And there have been studies over the 20th and early 21st century

And so that then takes out of the realm of human interaction all kinds of sociable interactions that people used to share in third places like a coffee shop or a saloon or a bowling alley. And there have been studies over the 20th and early 21st century