Instant gratification is the need to experience fulfillment without any sort of delay or wait. This applies to a whole host of things including online pornography, gambling, and drug and alcohol use. When it comes to gambling in particular, there is a plethora of new online casinos on the market that are luring in an ever-growing amount of players by promising great fun and easy wins. As younger generations become accustomed to immediate feedback, the erosion of their patience will lead to serious problems.
To capitalize on that desire, companies are taking consumer anxiety and sprinting with it, like Absolutely, offering same-day delivery services, eliminating the need to wait for a taxi and providing the ability to stream full seasons of TV shows within seconds.
If you think about it, anything can be delivered: food, flowers, furniture, clean laundry, instant answers on Google, groceries and even people. Well, not literally people, but with apps like Tinder, Grindr and JSwipe, there are 50 million romantic candidates right at your fingertips, waiting for you to filter them by location, sexuality, religion, hobbies and how desperate they are for a partner.
Retailers too are reaping the benefits of society’s growing impatience. Walmart and eBay have challenged Amazon in a battle of which company can deliver the fastest, because consumer habits have made it clear that they will pay big bucks to avoid the wait, leading places like Disney World to profit off of passes that allow consumers to skip the line.
Instant gratification has even made its way into your living room, as DVRs have eliminated the need to watch commercials or wait for show times. Some companies, have resorted to forcing their viewers to watch their advertisements by adding features that prevent them from fast-forwarding. In the same vein, internet providers are delivering faster connections — for a higher cost, of course — and are tempting buyers with their advertising speeds.
[SIZE=6]WE ARE DOOMED!![/SIZE]