The tyranny of immediacy

The advent of “smart” phones has brought all sorts of technological amenities into our hands. Simple cell phones allow us to make and receive calls, texts, and even email just about anywhere and anytime. That ease of communication, however, is a mixed blessing because it works in both directions. Because most of us use and carry cell phones, there has arisen a general expectation of being able to be contacted at any time. It is increasingly difficult to simply be out of touch. We are always on call—from bosses, spouses, relatives, our banks, hustlers trying to peddle something, political campaigners, anyone who has our phone number.

Through these smart phones, we also have access to all sorts of “apps” and sites on the internet, including social media, news, navigational aids, language translators, and other wonders unimaginable even a generation ago. The result of this connectivity has become for many people an addiction—not just calling, texting, and checking for messages but also engaging with others on Facebook or Twitter, or learning the latest “news,’ whether it is from CNN, Fox, Huffpost, or the breathless headlines that show up on other sites.

This addiction is epidemic. Waiting rooms and public transportation are prime examples, where it seems that at least half of the people are using their phones. Further, we all have seen drivers talking on cell phones, looking at their phones at red lights, and even texting while navigating through traffic.

What these smart phone addictions have in common is what I call a Tyranny of Immediacy, the expectation of, even the need for, instant communication— with each other individually, with groups of people through social media, and with other entities, e.g., reading the news or impulsively buying something on Amazon. It has become all about Right Now. While we have gained the convenience of immediacy, we have had to compromise other things: privacy, perspective on what is important, patience, freedom from distractions, and time (see https://turnstonecom.wpcomstaging.com/an-equation-of-time/).

More than a century and a half ago, Thoreau wrote presciently,
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”

While the internet has supplanted the magnetic telegraph, Thoreau’s point is more relevant that ever: it may be there is nothing—or damned little—that is important to communicate, at least Right Now.