Christine Rosen

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

about how those third places, those public spaces that aren't home, that aren't work, where people from all kinds of different backgrounds can come together and do stuff and have to tolerate each other, how those are actually really good for civic health, for people getting along, for encouraging toleration. And we're losing those. So now we can just be in our homes and we get whatever.

about how those third places, those public spaces that aren't home, that aren't work, where people from all kinds of different backgrounds can come together and do stuff and have to tolerate each other, how those are actually really good for civic health, for people getting along, for encouraging toleration. And we're losing those. So now we can just be in our homes and we get whatever.

We can have our meals delivered. We can have our friends talk to us through the screen. We can play games with our friends while they sit in their house across town. All of this has led to an epidemic of self-isolation. And that is not what we're wired to do. We are wired to be with other people and to learn from other people and to interact with other people. This is something different.

We can have our meals delivered. We can have our friends talk to us through the screen. We can play games with our friends while they sit in their house across town. All of this has led to an epidemic of self-isolation. And that is not what we're wired to do. We are wired to be with other people and to learn from other people and to interact with other people. This is something different.

And it's not that the experience doesn't feel real and give us an emotional burst of enthusiasm or any of those things. It is real, but it's qualitatively different than how we used to interact.