Something we may all be guilty of is instant gratification. It is so easy to get caught up in. I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “YOLO” or “live for now” that influences us to take part in instant gratification, however this is really damaging. We as people are obsessed with stimulation. Instant gratification can feel good in the moment, but it can often get you into a routine of seeking out short-term fixes for long-term problems
In other words, you find reasons not to do something because of the pain it creates at the moment even though you know that this action is necessary to help you attain your long-term goals and objectives.Instant gratification often manifests as procrastination. It’s a form of self-sabotage where you get caught up indulging in the temptations of life at the cost of your long-term goals.
We have access to fast everything such as information, food, technology, entertainment, comfort. We don’t have to exert a lot of effort into fulfilling our desires and, in many cases, we can purchase goods and services in an instant that will gratify our every requirement.
What we don’t consider are the lessons and benefits we miss out on when we don’t delay fulfillment. We experience personal growth when we work harder to achieve satisfaction. We also take for granted the value of aiming for long-term goals and drawing benefit from the process by which we reach contentment.
Your dissatisfaction with short-lived pleasure causes your needs to be magnified the next time you seek fulfillment. This can often lead to disastrous and largely unforeseen costs like addiction. There are many examples of this. Overindulging in food, alcohol or drugs, technology such as the internet, gaming and gambling, even seemingly harmless indulgences like shopping or body image through diet and fitness can become obsessive and have counterproductive results.
Although scrolling endlessly through TikTok may not necessarily lead to drug and alcohol problems, prioritizing goals and productivity will help the human mind excel.
I think this is a great blog post, I personally am a huge advocate for enjoying the process of obtaining something. Whether this is a 1 month goal or a 1 year goal, the pursuit of reaching for something greater. The rise of technology has made it hard to focus on oneself and their pursuit to a higher level of thinking. Social media is a huge part of enabling how easy it is to receive information or change within an instant. In reality, this is far from how we should be presented information in life.Therefore, we tend to then seek out whats easy in life rather than what's worth pursing.
Instant gratification is continuing to grow with the growth of technology and making us, as you said, avoid long term problems. I think that in many ways, I hate to say but it has made us lazier. For instance, instead of making the trip to the grocery store or restaurant, people now tend to just order it instantly off their phone to their house. In some ways, this instant gratification from technology has made us lazier socially. Instead of making the effort to go out to catch up with someone or even give them a call has now been replaced with a few text exchanges. It is sad to see the large influence and effect technology, and instant gratification has…
I definitely know what you’re talking about with this temporary, maybe superficial happiness that the younger side of society has began to promote. There’s a lot to say about it in terms of procrastination, selfishness, and laziness as we now have tons of apps like postmates and the distopian speed that amazon delivers at. We’re all really worried about our own immediate wants and ignore the ethical consequences our actions have on populations bigger than us, as well as the environment.
I really enjoyed this post. I agree that it's really unhealthy to consistently practice instant gratification, it really negatively impacts various parts of our lives. Addiction is just an extreme disorder that makes instant gratification even more irresistible.
I agree that social media prevents us from looking into the future. The algorithms are supposed to take advantage of our tendency to develop a shorter attention span over time by giving us this instant gratification.