Instant Versus Deferred Gratification
As I reflect on this generation and the coming ones, it is obvious that decisions and perceptions are patterned after the modernised culture of instant gratification. It is the wanting of satisfaction to be immediate (e.g. fast food, fast transactions, fast communications). There seems to be a mentality that satisfaction that is delayed is not worth pursuing for it is not guaranteable. One would rather be risk-adversed in personal satisfaction, and this can be seen partially in the blooming world of credit card usage. Why is there a readily acceptance of credit card financing in our world today? It is because satisfaction must be fulfilled first. Thus, the notion of working first for a long term benefit (deferred gratification), where the payoff is much later, seems foreign.