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The patience of our readers is being taxed. But some nevertheless took the time to voice opinions about whether we are, in general, becoming more impatient. The general conclusion is that we are. And they lament the phenomenon.
As one reader put it, "We don't know what to do with our spare time so we kill it." I assume he means that we engineer our lives so that we are always busy, thereby avoiding spare time. Aurin Bhattacharjee admonishes us to "moderate our ways and appreciate the passage of time for its own sake." Renee Dupras cautions that this may be a generational thing, that as our Internet generation ages into mid-life, "we will slow down." Will we? For example, will we be able to suppress annoyance when someone writes us a letter, to which one must reply in kind, rather than sending us an email?
But it is much more complex than that. In other words, according to our readers, our level of patience dependson the nature of the task; on whether we are focused completely on just one task; on personal circumstances such as anxiety, fatigue, or available time; and on our knowledge of what is possible and how that influences our expectations.
Matt Lynch observes that seconds can drag by on some tasks, namely those associated with high tech applications, while "an hour can pass by barely noticed" on other tasks. In order to cope, we multi-task or engage in time-consuming activities that provide multiple benefits, thereby increasing their value. Denise Rickman grabs a magazine from the rack while in the supermarket checkout lane. Imran Jafar rides his scooter to work, enjoying the benefits of close-to-the-road transportation, exercise, and what sounds a lot like a kind of meditation. Others save certain activities for times when they are less fatigued or have available time. And all respondents seem to compartmentalize expectations of how long various tasks should take, clearly differentiating the wait for a computer response from that of filling a gas tank. In other words, we cope.
But why must we, as users, meet product and service providers more than halfway on this issue? One respondent is convinced that "patience is a frontier of competition." If this is true, there may be a real competitive advantage awaiting the Internet-based service provider who provides us with diversions other than advertising as well as other opportunities for multi-tasking while we await responses to our last click.