Should we expect things instantly?
I had an odd experience recently that really made me think. I was playing my Xbox when I had an urge to play a different game, one that required getting up and putting a disc in the drive. I found myself reluctant to do this, there was resistance.
Before I caught myself, this was all too much for me. I’d got used to having games installed on my device that loaded instantly. What was happening here? Was I being lazy, were the creators of this technology expecting too much from me or had I just got used to everything being so easy?
I quickly looked back at how it used to be. Those of you of a certain age will remember what you had to do to load a game onto the early personal computers, like a ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64.
You literally had to insert a cassette tape, the same ones you’d also use for audio. It then churned away, making all sorts of unpleasant noises and flashing random things on screen. You just had to sit there and wait. There was no resistance at the time. This is what you had to do to play a game.
So what went wrong? The first thing I thought of when I started exploring this was the development of the Spotify app. How an obsessive focus on speed and response times set this service ahead of its rivals.
They realised that giving the consumer instant access to their music made a difference. They also worked on the assumption that even the slightest delay when you pushed the play button could destroy the user experience.
The focus now is clearly on giving people what they want, instantly. We have clearly come to expect it.
The big question is whether the expectation of having everything instantly delivered to us is good for us. My impatience and apparent stress at this rather mundane situation on my Xbox alone suggests it isn’t.
in terms of our mental health and wellbeing, it seems like we’re just giving ourselves so much to get stressed about. If we’re conditioned to expect things now and to get instant responses, we’re going to be disappointed on a regular basis.
It’s surely a problem that no one will want to solve either, as the tech industry relies on us to keep buying new products that are a little bit faster. Where will this end?
I honestly can’t remember anyone I grew up with being affected by the slow loading times of a tape game loading. Even the frequent threat of devices chewing up both music and game cassettes was accepted. I’ll let you think about what would happen in situations like this now.
Finally, I’d like you to think about something we haven’t touched on here that is so important. The future. What will people’s expectations be in ten or twenty years time. More importantly, how will they respond to delays and setbacks?
There’s a lot to think about, and three easy things you can do right now:
Catch yourself next time you’re frustrated when something doesn’t happen instantly
Express gratitude for what you have now
Remember what we used to put up with and where this might be leading
Hope this helps, and all your technology runs smoothly.