Ezekiel Nyoni

Author – Nyoni Ezekiel

In the previous article that was published in the second issue of the University of Johannesburg ZimSoc Magazine (Taking a leap into future- Mystery life of the Generation Z
https://www.joomag.com/magazine/mag/0450303001479734117/p24) I just went over the general socio-economic and physical changes which the evolution of technology has thrust on us. Of late the elders or the older generations of the present society have always been lamenting about how the millennials and the generations that are coming after them have it so easy in life. The advancement of technology especially in this era of the internet of things, has created better ways to communicate and better ways to have things done. However, it has created a certain culture in which has many negative impacts on our social environment.

Firstly, having things done on the click of a button is the best thing to have ever happened. You can buy milk even or personal gadgets at the click of a button and have them delivered to you in the next hour. Financial transactions can be done instantly online. This has made life better, we can celebrate as there are  no bank queues ( at least in first world countries) , no more walking to the shops, no more window shopping and walking down every isle in a departmental looking for things you want to buy. Also with social media and dating sites one just put up their profile online and on the click of a button you have got yourself a partner. Professionally, one can put their CV online on sites like LinkedIn and other different professional sites, then the employer picks those who look most lucrative  for the job and then  a telephonic or video conference call interview is organized via email and boom one gets a job just like that. No more going door to door dropping CVs and job application. Yes we have created convenient services through technology but we have done that at the expense of the social development of the same communities we are trying to develop. Many of you are obviously asking where I am going with this…

Simon Sinek has said before that social media has created a culture of instant gratification amongst the millennials. Some of you might see nothing wrong with instant gratification but the honest truth is that although it feels good to be quickly satisfied life experiences are not like that most of the times. This culture of instant gratification has created a lack of patience amongst the millennials and the generations that are following. It has created a culture upon which people want to achieve their goals quickly be it short term or long term goals. We no longer have the patience to do things that need us to wait. One can argue that it depends with the person its different from one human being to the other but let me remind you that unlike alcohol or sexual activity; social media and everything that comes with the internet have no age limit. Hence children are being exposed to the culture of instant gratification at an early age so as one grows up it becomes a normal culture not a character of choice.

One of the much experienced negative results of instant gratitude is the rate at which divorce cases and family fall out cases are being reported. Even on dating some even date for a couple of weeks or months and they are fed up with each other. A little while ago a guy would spend months getting to know a girl and trying to impress her and sometimes she would say no to his proposal and he would be patient enough until the girl is sure herself that she is impressed and she would say yes and they date and most likely get married. This created a chance of having strong foundations of emotional connection, a link which is definitely missing nowadays as the profile photo, profile status and the like button have taken over.

There may be other factors causing all this but one thing is that the modern generation is no longer patient with one another if a problem rises they want quick solutions. Couples fight and they quickly divorce because they are used to get what they want instantly but life is a conversation that is not always replied by a Yes nor a NO but a conversation that most of the times takes a lot of time to get to the conclusion. Ralph Emmerson once said “Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.” Unfortunately the modern generations are trying to move faster than the nature that surrounds and makes them. They are passengers on a bus and are trying to move faster than the bus carrying them and that has its own consequences. This is evident with what is happening in our society. Because of the instant satisfaction the technology offers, people have failed to adopt to the pace of nature; they want emotional wounds to be healed instantly. Naturally activities that involve emotions are quite slow and fast tracking them lead to a lot of unintended consequences.

Road rage cases have been increasing, people losing their lives due to over speeding, people committing fraud and other crimes to make a quick buck. The list is endless but all these are a result of one thing – lack of patience. As Simon Sinek says it that the millennials just see the summit of a mountain and forget that you cannot always fly to the top sometimes you have to hike and during the hiking you can fall and rise again, a concept which is not mastered in this new world of fast paced technology. Because of the lack of patience the millennial generation has created some kind of pressure to reach to the summit and achieve their goals as fast as possible. This has come with a lot of consequences as we have seen people making dangerous decisions some have gone total bankrupt because of such pressure. Some have quit their jobs or have made fatal decisions at work because they did not have the patience to plan properly. Some have even committed suicide as they felt they had fail hence there was nothing to live for, the reason being because there did not have the patience to rebuild from their downfalls.

The main question is how do we restore and ensure a culture of patience in this technology driven millennial generation and the ones to follow?