Here and Now

By Cassie Lenski, Wednesday, May 30, 2012, at 9:00 am.

While anyone would argue that Generation Y’s potential is immeasurable, the reality is that the expectation of immediate results is something unique to my peers.

Gratification now comes so easily with social media, smartphones and numerous other ways to access the Internet at virtually any time and place. (Ha. Virtually. Get it?). This “now” way of thinking is a problem because—and this might be shocking—there are things in our existence that are not immediate. A Hyundai ad that Jeff Bridges narrated a few years back still captures one aspect of our society:

“Instant gratification has us in a stranglehold. So much so that we don’t want to fix things anymore … just replace them. Don’t like your nose? Get a new one. Don’t like your job? Get a new one. Don’t like your spouse? Get a new one. Whatever happened to commitment? To standing by our decisions?”

That being said, as I scan the Internet for current research on instant gratification, I notice myself getting impatient when I do not find something interesting within the first three Google hits. This places me among my generation’s statistics, according to Kelly Mooney, co-author of the book The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer. Says Mooney:  “These consumers will wait just three seconds for a page to download before they click away. They also process website information five times faster than older generations.”

But can you blame us? Millennials grew up on technology. It is almost an innate instinct to receive instant feedback from something we do, not because we are greedy, careless or selfish, but because we grew up that way. Does that qualify as an excuse? Not exactly, but it does provide some explanation to those who criticize our “now” concept of time. Generation Y is the workforce of the future. Employers should keep in mind that these kids are connected.

[photo: Stock Exchange]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 9:00 am. It is filed under Advertising, Features, Social Media, Technology, Trends, Youth and tagged with connected, connection, Generation Y, Google, Hyundai, instant gratification, Internet, Jeff Bridges, Kelly Mooney, millennials, now, Social Media, The Ten Demandments, virtual. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.