The Two-Minute Tyranny
For a
decade & more, the ritual was the same: Customers in a Bank would spend an hour—often more—sitting in a
dimly lit branch, waiting for a human
teller to process a simple withdrawal. People accepted it as the inherent cost
of doing business. Time was sluggish, and in turn, we were patient.
Then
came the "innovative" bank teller systems. The wait time dropped to
30 minutes. Customers felt like they were living in the future. "A
breeze," they called it.
Later,
the first Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) arrived; bringing with it joy that
knew no bounds. Money at the tap of a button ? No teller? No lines? It was
instant gratification wrapped in plastic and steel. We felt this was the
absolute peak, a pinnacle of efficiency that could never ever be surpassed.
But, Yippee,
it did.
Technology
continued to accelerate its clock speed, altering every facet of life.
Consequently, people unknowingly developed uncompromising characteristics, even for minor hiccups and adopted a zero-tolerance policy.
Yesterday,
I witnessed that illusion of boundless tolerance come crashing down. As I was leaving
the bank, a middle-aged gentleman walked up to the ATM booth. He was forced to
wait as another customer was engaged in a transaction. I watched as the person
in front stumbled through the process. The man waiting behind grew restless,
gripping his wallet, & fuming.
I
could fairly guess what he was thinking:
Clearly vicious, turning every second into an hour. After just two
minutes—a time frame that would have been considered faster than blinking a
decade ago—the man was ready to scream.
As he
shuffled impatiently, I had the staggering realization about the world today,
the terrifying truth of this era: As technology brings us closer to instant
results, it makes us less capable of waiting for anything at all. Patience,
once seasoned to endure long delays has
been optimized and compressed until it is brittle, snapping at a mere 120
seconds of inconvenience.
Technology
is making the world move faster and faster, and it has set us racing against
time that seems to be riding a runaway treadmill.
